We are excited to announce that on July 1st 2009, the East
Montpelier Fire Department will add ambulance transport to
its emergency medical services for the residents of East
Montpelier and Calais.
Why add an ambulance?
For years, the East Montpelier Fire Department has been
providing advanced medical care with the members of the
Fast Squad. Our experienced and certified EMT’s rush to
your home and provide immediate medical care and
prepare you for the arrival of the contract ambulance
service. We would then wait for their arrival. We asked
ourselves, what are we waiting for? Why not have an
ambulance station in East Montpelier, miles closer to our
patients and provide the transport service.
What happens during transport?
East Montpelier Fire and Fast Squad already provide 90
percent of your medical care before you are loaded into the
ambulance. That care continues on your way to the
hospital. We ask ourselves, why not continue your care
with our EMT’s?
What was the contracted ambulance cost previously?
Currently, the two towns send out over $105,000 per year
to contract ambulance services. (In the past ten years
almost $1,000,000 has been sent to the contracted
ambulance service.) We did an extensive operating review
and created a business plan to see if adding an ambulance
to the East Montpelier Fire Department would be feasible. It
is. After careful planning, we approached both select
boards and got enthusiastic support. And we received
glowing support from members of the community in
support of our application for an ambulance license. The
Vermont Board of Health agreed that it was a solid
proposal and we received a license in December. Now the
Calais and East Montpelier select boards have committed
to have the East Montpelier Fire Department as your
ambulance provider beginning July 1st, 2009.
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What’s our plan?
We just purchased an excellent used 4-wheel drive
ambulance, saving the towns over $100,000 over the cost
of a new ambulance. Our operating budget request to the
towns is less than they are paying for the current service.
We will add two paid staff to cover the daytime needs
during the week. The bulk of staffing will come from our
experience volunteers. For the time being, we will operate
from the village facility opposite Washington Electric on
Route 14. We expect to generate revenue from our billing
insurance companies for the transport service. We will
return to the towns a significant portion of the revenue to
support the building of an emergency services building at
our current location in East Montpelier Village.
What do you get?
You will receive high quality medical care just as we have
always provided for years, with a faster arrival of an
ambulance and quicker arrival at the door of the hospital.
The service will cost you less per year because of our
volunteer efforts and we expect a first-ever revenue
stream from our efforts to help Calais and East Montpelier
invest in a much needed emergency services building in
East Montpelier village. We look forward to serving you
better.
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