By Sydney Green
The New Hampshire Union Leader
WARREN, N.H. — Warren-Wentworth Ambulance Service, located at 446 NH Route 25, abruptly closed at 8 a.m. on July 9.
The Warren-Wentworth Ambulance Service abruptly ceased operations earlier this month after its remaining staff reportedly quit, leaving both Grafton County towns scrambling to fill the gap.
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The closure marks the end of a financially strained service that had long struggled with underfunding and unsustainable operations.
Plymouth Fire-Rescue Chief Kevin Pierce recounted the morning of July 9 when he received an urgent call from Lakes Region Mutual Aid Dispatch.
“Around 8 a.m. dispatch told me that they had been notified that everyone from (the ambulance service) had quit and no one would be coming to service the area,” Pierce said. “It was a big bombshell and I immediately started making phone calls.”
Soon after, Plymouth Fire-Rescue agreed to offer mutual aid temporarily while both towns worked to find a solution. Woodsville Ambulance absorbed medical services to long-term care facility Glencliff Home in Benton, with which Warren-Wentworth Ambulance Service (WWAS) had previously held a contract.
“I also received an email from former WWAS Chief Mike Ball saying something like, ‘Everyone resigned, good luck. I don’t know what’s going to happen,’” Pierce said. “I contacted the select board for the towns and no one knew anything.”
A Facebook post from WWAS later that morning confirmed the closure, stating that “the remaining EMS crew decided to quit effective immediately.”
The service’s Facebook page, phone lines and email have since been shut down.
Administrative Assistant Dawn Gove said Wentworth’s Board of Selectmen will not be commenting on the situation. Warren Town Administrator Austin Albro said WWAS is a private entity and is not managed by the town, so the information each town has is limited.
Years of financial strain
The abrupt end of the ambulance service came as a shock to some of the employees, according to Ball. WWAS had just purchased a 23-year-old ambulance from Long Island, New York, to enhance its operation.
Ball, who was promoted to chief a few weeks prior to the shutdown, said the service had been operating “paycheck to paycheck” for years. Ball began working for the service at the start of this year.
“It was pretty evident that the service had been underfunded for a number of years,” Ball said. “The only goal for this year was to survive.”
Ball pointed to a history of financial mismanagement, including an IRS fine of over $300,000 due to unpaid payroll taxes under a previous administration. The cost of maintaining a 24/7 operation exceeded $1 million annually, while the service received only $325,000 each from Warren and Wentworth, plus $60,000 from the Glencliff Home, which is owned by the state.
By July 3 , Ball, in discussion with the WWAS board of directors, had laid off nearly all staff members just to make payroll. Ball retained four employees including himself to continue operating the service. According to Ball, the service had just $18,000 in the bank, while payroll averaged $16,000 per week.
“We could have done a week of payroll, but we were still five weeks out from receiving a check from the town,” Ball said.
The remaining staff planned to work three days on, three days off, which would have kept WWAS in service until at least the end of October, according to Ball.
But a week after the layoffs, Ball was notified July 8 by the WWAS board of directors that his position was no longer needed or affordable. The next day, the rest of the staff left in solidarity.
“The employees got shafted, the towns got shafted and most importantly the people in those towns got shafted,” Ball said. “It was just an accumulation of so many issues.”
No one answered the phone at a number listed online for the WWAS board.
Plymouth Fire-Rescue steps in
At an emergency meeting with the towns of Warren and Wentworth on July 16, Plymouth Town Manager Scott Weden and Chief Pierce offered to provide emergency medical services to both towns through next March under a written contract.
Under the agreement, Plymouth will charge $1,500 per EMS call, with insurance reimbursements returned to the towns. The average recovery rate is between 38% and 42%. Based on available data, approximately 68 calls could be expected for Warren and 44 calls for Wentworth through March.
Both select boards voted unanimously to approve the agreements. The contract is renewable pending annual town votes for renewed funding.
“We are not here to make any money, we are here to break even so it doesn’t cost the taxpayers in Plymouth any additional money,” Weden said. “We want to step up and take care of our community partners, that is the commitment we have made.”
According to Pierce, closures like these reflect a national crisis.
“This is a national issue,” Pierce said. “Ambulance services are drying up left and right and there are so many factors that make it difficult for an EMS service to be sustainable.”
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