By Deborah Straszheim
The Day
Groton, Conn. — The state’s director of emergency medical services has asked to meet with Groton town officials and the Groton Ambulance Association to discuss complaints about the ambulance service.
Raphael M. Barishansky, director of the Department of Public Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services, responded Thursday to a letter he received earlier that day from Rich Moravsik, the chairman of the Groton Town Council’s Public Safety Committee.
Moravsik is investigating complaints that Groton Ambulance Association Inc. provided no service on seven Sundays in April and May, and did not respond to five calls the last week of June.
In the letter, Moravsik wrote that, based upon his initial review of schedules and other documents, Groton Ambulance allows an average of 24 shifts to remain open. A shift may be as short as two hours.
“These open shifts appear to be by design, so that an employee can be called in if required, and that a cost savings to (Groton Ambulance) is realized at the expense of not providing the level of ambulance service required except by mutual aid,” Moravsik wrote.
He added that if service does not improve, he may suggest to the Public Safety Committee that Groton invoke its right to submit to the state a new plan for emergency medical coverage to replace the existing service.
Groton Ambulance, a private, nonprofit organization, is assigned to provide ambulance services to about two-thirds of Groton, including the city of Groton and much of Groton town. The state DPH assigns the geographical area that ambulance organizations cover.
The meeting with the state will be scheduled within the next 2-3 weeks and include Moravsik, the Groton town manager, town director of the Office of Emergency Management and representatives from Groton Ambulance, said Christopher Stan, a spokesman for the state health department.
“The purpose of the meeting is to better understand the issues outlined in the recent letter regarding Groton Ambulance from Richard Moravsik to the DPH Office of Emergency Medical Services,” Stan said.
Moravsik has requested data for the 45 days that began July 9 and end Aug. 23, including weekly schedules for personnel, the association’s standard operation procedures, its employee guidelines, the latest audit report filed with the state, its annual and monthly reports, its charter and a list of its board members.
He also is expected to review incident reports during the period.
He started the review after hearing complaints about a decline in service, including that on seven Sundays, the ambulance did not have adequate staffing — two people on duty at the same time — to allow a crew to go out on calls.
George Timothy Law, president of Groton Ambulance Association, said the agency had a temporary staffing shortage that has since been addressed. The association has four full-time employees and 26 per-diem staff members on its roster, Law said.
He said the association has since hired two part-time employees assigned to Sundays and two additional per-diem staff members, one of whom is in training. This has solved the Sunday problem, Law said.
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©2015 The Day (New London, Conn.)