Volunteer group in Rensselaer scuttles agreement for backup
By Kate Perry
The Times Union (Albany, New York)
Copyright 2006 The Hearst Corporation
All Rights Reserved
RENSSELAER, New York — The city entered into agreements for ambulance service with a local volunteer corps and Mohawk Ambulance last week, but there are still questions about who will take calls. The city classified Rensselaer Volunteer Ambulance its primary emergency service and in a written agreement said that Mohawk will answer all calls RVA cannot be en route to within six minutes.
But RVA secretary Eva Dihrberg said the written agreement gives Mohawk no jurisdiction in Rensselaer.
“Unfortunately for the city and Mohawk, that is a three-party agreement and we will not be signing it,” said Dihrberg. “Therefore that agreement will be null and void.”
Mohawk admits that the current contract leaves them out of the loop.
“The contract is a three-way agreement and it’s our understanding that RVA is refusing to work in good faith with either party so we will be working with the city and counsel to rectify the situation,” said Jacqueline Geraci, a spokeswoman for Mohawk. “The way the contract is written now we won’t be a second provid er without RVA agreeing with the contract.”
But, Geraci said, the company has “reason to believe” the city will be making changes very shortly to use Mohawk in some capacity.
Rensselaer Mayor Dan Dwyer didn’t return calls for comment Tuesday.
Currently, when RVA can’t respond to calls, Empire Ambulance Service picks up the slack. RVA has an agreement with the company and also pays some of their workers to man ambulances when no volunteers can work.
Last week Geraci said Mohawk would only respond to calls when neither RVA or Empire can be on their way within six minutes. Dihrberg said that scenario would be very rare and also reiterated that Mohawk can’t answer calls without RVA first agreeing to a mutual aid agreement.
Some fear that confusion could lead to multiple agencies arriving at the scene of an emergency, but a county public safety official said the situation will likely be ironed out before that happened.
The county dispatches calls for ambulance service and Rensselaer County Director of Public Safety Kelly Paslow said the county will continue only dispatching calls to RVA and Empire until he receives written notification from the city regarding its desire to include Mohawk as a provider.
At that point, Paslow said, he’ll ask the state Health Department to determine if Mohawk can be added to the dispatch list for the city after RVA and Empire.
The hubbub surrounding ambulance service dates back to the spring. RVA’s contract was due to expire in the summer, and there had been complaints about RVA’s response times, according to Councilwoman Albertine Felts.
The city started shopping for different service and by fall Mohawk had prepared several proposals for the city. The company also started an aggressive advertising campaign in the city, which included sending out mailers to residents and renting a billboard.
RVA, whose membership felt its existence was threatened by Mohawk, began protesting their attempts to move in to Rensselaer and pressured the city to renew their contract. The contract came with $25,000 for RVA. The city isn’t obligated to fund RVA, but has historically given the corps some money.
Mohawk has said it can provide service to the city for free and make its money from insurance companies that pay for ambulance rides.
RVA argues that Mohawk can’t offer residents the personal touch that it can. Members also say that Mohawk will also push residents with no insurance to pay for services, while RVA forgives fees for those people.