By Brian Hubert
Daily Freeman
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino is asking the federal government to provide funding for improved EMS services after county stats found that less than 70% of ambulances reach patients with life-threatening conditions within 9 minutes.
Across the river in Ulster County, Executive Jen Metzger said this week that she plans to make a similar request.
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Serino’s office said in a press release Tuesday that countywide EMS calls topped 21,000 through the first half of 2025 and were on pace to top 43,000 calls, exceeding the 2024 total of 41,114 calls.
Serino’s release noted that priority one response times, defined as calls for a life-threatening emergency, average 8 minutes and 7 seconds countywide, with only 69% of calls reaching patients in under 9 minutes. County statistics also found that 8% of priority 1 calls take more than 15 minutes to reach a patient, with 9% of calls resulting in an “inability to respond.”
Serino’s office said that even after Dutchess County invested $1.47 million in supplemental coverage in 2025, “gaps still remain,” mainly related to “staffing shortages, rising costs and increasing demand.”
Serino’s office added that while the supplemental county funding is helping to improve ambulance service, a “national focus on the challenges of EMS and committed federal funding is needed to ensure these EMS agencies have the staffing and resources needed to improve response times and eliminate “inability to respond” instances.”
Serino, a Republican, said she has sent letters to federal officials on both sides of the aisle, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Democratic U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Rep Pat Ryan, D- D-Gardiner, calling for federal help for EMS services.
Varying response times
County statistics shared by Serino’s office on Wednesday found a wide disparity between response times in the village and town in both Red Hook and Rhinebeck.
In Rhinebeck, where Northern Dutchess Hospital is located in the village, 73% of priority-1 calls arrive in under 9 minutes, with 5% taking over 15 minutes. By contrast, in the town, just 53% of priority-1 calls arrive in under 9 minutes, with 11% taking more than 15 minutes, Serino’s office said.
In Red Hook, the disparity is even greater. In the village, 75% of priority-1 calls arrive under 9 minutes, and 5% take over 15 minutes, the numbers showed. By contrast, in the town just 31% of priority-1 calls arrive in under 9 minutes, with 17% taking over 15 minutes, Serino’s office said.
“The disparities you see in towns like Red Hook and Rhinebeck are exactly why we’re asking for federal help,” Serino’s office said.
Serino’s office said response times are the best in the county’s two cities, Poughkeepsie and Beacon, with priority-1 calls met under nine minutes more than 80% of the time and very low rates of delays over 15 minutes, noting that both are in close proximity to hospitals and populations concentrated in a smaller area.
The industry standard for EMS response times on a priority 1 call is under nine minutes, 90% of the time, Serino’s office said.
Serino’s office said they are not seeking a specific dollar amount at this time.
Priorities listed
Serino’s office named four priority areas for federal investment in EMS services in the release.
Serino called for workforce development initiatives supporting “recruitment, training, and retention programs for EMTs and paramedics, including tuition assistance and stipends.”
She also called for funding for “system sustainability,” including “multi-year operational grants to stabilize coverage, particularly in rural and underserved communities.”
Serino also urged federal officials to provide funding for “innovation and integration,” including supporting “regional coordination, data-sharing, and integration of EMS into broader public health and emergency management systems.”
Lastly, Serino called on federal officials to fund “equipment modernization,” including “the replacement of aging ambulances, lifesaving medical devices and technology upgrades for communications and dispatch.”
“When you call 911, you’re not thinking about budgets – you’re thinking about your loved one,” Serino said in a press release. “Our EMTs and paramedics are extraordinary, but the system supporting them is stretched thin. Dutchess County is doing its part to invest in coverage, but we need federal leadership again to ensure every community has access to timely, life-saving care.”
Metzger expressed support for Serino’s request for federal funding for EMS services in an email on Wednesday.
“I strongly support County Executive Serino’s call for federal investment in EMS, and will be sending a similar request to U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy this week, Metzger said.
Serino’s office noted Federal officials have intervened at times in the past when EMS service was a turning point, pointing to the 1966 National Highway Safety Act, which empowered the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set “national training standards, build trauma systems, and provide oversight that transformed emergency response nationwide.”
“These investments transformed EMS from an unregulated patchwork system into a coordinated professional public safety service that has saved millions of lives,” Serino’s office said.
“The data is clear: demand is rising, and the workforce is stretched thin,” Dutchess County Emergency Response Commissioner William Beale said. “Targeted federal support would help stabilize operations – funding the workforce, replacing aging equipment, and strengthening the communications and dispatch technology that help ensure fast response times.”
Similar pressures in Ulster
Ulster County has faced similar struggles with EMS service, leading the county to approve $4.7 million in funding in May for a regional ambulance plan to shore up and enhance EMS service in the county this year.
“Here in Ulster County, we’re seeing the same trend — increased call volumes and mounting pressure on our emergency response system,” Metzger said on Wednesday. “This is a regional challenge, and reliable federal funding could be of great help in building a sustainable EMS system, especially in rural counties like ours where coverage gaps are significant.”
“This past year, we initiated a comprehensive plan to strengthen EMS service in Ulster County, but counties will face major fiscal constraints beginning next year because of so many federal cuts and cost shifts by the federal government in other areas, including cuts to Medicaid that will drive up costs to local EMS agencies,” Metzger added. “Federal funding will be all the more important to shore up EMS service in the future.”
Serino’s and Metzger’s pleas for federal funding come just days after Ryan said last week that he is keeping a push to pass federal legislation that would ensure fair compensation for emergency service personnel and improve health care access for seniors through Medicaid reimbursements for care administered in the field.
In August, the town of Ulster reached an agreement with Ulster County for the use of $162,066 of county money under the regional ambulance plan for “improved ambulance service.”
In April, Ulster County lawmakers approved a deal under which the New Paltz Rescue Squad was set to begin serving advanced life support calls in the Gardiner Fire District, with the town of Gardiner contributing $55,000 toward the cost of the new EMS service.
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