By Ted Booker
Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
CAPE VINCENT, N.Y. — Faced with a shortage of trained volunteers on the Cape Vincent Ambulance Squad to respond to emergency calls, the Town Council is considering paying the Thousand Islands Emergency Rescue Service to help do the job.
The board recently received staffing proposals from TIERS and the Cape Vincent Ambulance Squad to address the dilemma, according to Deputy Supervisor John L. Byrne III. He said representatives from the Cape Vincent squad will attend the board’s June 18 meeting to discuss the staffing situation.
The squad — part of the Cape Vincent Fire Department — has one ambulance that is manned by about a dozen volunteers. TIERS, Clayton, is a nonprofit agency with four ambulances and a coverage area that encompasses the towns of Clayton and Orleans.
“TIERS wants us to give them some money, and so we’ve looked at our ambulance squad and come up with some other ideas that could be constructive,” Mr. Byrne said Monday, adding the board expects to resolve the matter soon. “It might be good to pursue some of these other ideas before we accept any proposal from TIERS.”
TIERS Executive Director Roland G. Churchill said three different staffing proposals were made by the organization to Cape Vincent. Offers were made to provide a basic EMT, an intermediate EMT or a paramedic who would work full-time at the town fire department.
Mr. Churchill, who could not provide the cost of the proposals, said TIERS often responds to emergency calls in Cape Vincent but gets nothing in return. As a participant in the region’s mutual aid system, the organization responds to calls in neighboring towns when local volunteers aren’t available to do so.
TIERS has responded to emergency calls in Cape Vincent since 2003, he said.
‘NO RECIPROCITY’
The Cape Vincent Ambulance Squad often relies on TIERS to respond to advanced life support, or ALS, calls because volunteer paramedics aren’t locally available, according to Roland “Bud” A. Baril, chairman of the TIERS board.
He said paramedics are needed to respond to ALS calls, which are more serious than calls for basic life support, or BLS. ALS calls, for example, could involve someone with a heart attack, stroke, seizure or life-threatening injury.
“I would say that TIERS responds to the majority of ALS calls in Cape Vincent,” Mr. Baril said.
TIERS, which has about 20 volunteers and a paid staff that includes six paramedics, is now exclusively funded by the towns of Clayton and Orleans, providing them with around-the-clock service.
He said TIERS receives nothing in return for the calls it responds to in Cape Vincent and Alexandria Bay — but it should.
“It means that the taxpayers in Clayton and Orleans are supporting those outlying communities,” Mr. Baril said. “If we had 50 calls in Cape Vincent, there would be no reciprocity from them to help us for those calls. And it takes more fuel and time for us to take one of our rigs and send it to the Cape.”
Volunteers, meanwhile, are scarce in Cape Vincent.
Cape Vincent resident Tracie L. Mason, a member of the town’s ambulance squad, said she has limited time available to volunteer. She is a full-time paramedic for Guilfoyle Ambulance Service in Watertown and teaches classes part time at Jefferson Community College as a paramedic lab instructor.
Other volunteers in Cape Vincent who have day jobs face the same dilemma, she said.
“It’s difficult being a volunteer in Cape Vincent when one call takes three hours,” she said. “It’s hard to get people to volunteer.”
Cape Vincent has two paramedics and three medics who are certified to handle ALS calls, she said, but they often aren’t available to respond because they have full-time jobs.
NUMBERS DISPUTED
Douglas L. Putnam, foreman of the town’s ambulance squad who volunteers as a driver, contended that while the organization is short-staffed, the town shouldn’t pay TIERS to solve the problem. He said he has heard from sources familiar with the matter that the board could spend “about $20,000 a year” on staffing.
“We’ve told the board if they have that kind of money to give to someone, give it to us and we’ll put people here to do the job,” Mr. Putnam said, adding the squad plans to submit multiple proposals to the board for consideration.
Mr. Putnam disagreed with the contention made by TIERS that it responds to the majority of ALS calls in Cape Vincent. He said that the town’s squad responds to about 70 percent of all emergency calls; the remainder is handled by TIERS, the Three Mile Bay Ambulance Squad and Guilfoyle Ambulance Service.
“TIERS might do 15 percent of all the calls,” Mr. Putnam said, adding he believes that statistics previously reported by TIERS to the town board are misleading. “They count every call they get toned out for, but they’re often told by us to stand down and not respond. If you look at the number of times they actually made contact here, there’s a tremendous difference.”
Mr. Baril said he is a member of an ad hoc committee formed earlier this year to discuss the issue with the Town Council. He said he believes an agreement could be reached for TIERS to provide the town’s ambulance squad with service during hours in which volunteers aren’t available.
“I think they’re looking for someone to work on a limited basis to take the hours that are the hardest to have volunteers, and it’s probably during the day,” he said.
He added he believes Cape Vincent should take action soon to address the problem because the swell of seasonal residents in the town during the summer makes it the busiest time of the year for emergency volunteers.
“It makes more sense to get it done now, as opposed to waiting until the fall,” Mr. Baril said.
Cape Vincent Town Supervisor Urban C. Hirschey could not be reached Monday for comment.
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©2015 Watertown Daily Times (Watertown, N.Y.)