EFFD4091-MLSS emt

I was always raised by the motto, " You volunteered to JOIN the department, now you are an employee."

Actually MLSS runs 2 units out of their Fishkill reporting station (Medic 270, Medic 279). 2 Units out of Wappingers reporting station (Medic 268, Medic 267) and 1 unit in Poughkeepsie as of right now (Medic 291).
MLSS does not sign agreements as far as "guarenteed # of ambulances"....They Guarentee responce times, which in most cases is 8 min 59 sec. or Less per CAAS standards!

You realize that "4 minutes for ALS and 6 minutes for BLS" was referring to average response. That means that with enough responses under the limit, you can still have plenty way over. MLSS provides fractile percentages within the national standard. This means that no matter what, a city resident will have an ambulance at their door within 9 minutes every time, no matter what. If 10% of the time this does not happen, MLSS will pay money. It's a way of ensuring reliability and accountability. In most cases, you should be able to respond to an emergency in the city fairly quickly, common sense tells me it shouldn't be a problem. One other thing MLSS is famous for is carefully researched station locations, as well as multiple stations in one single area. When you increase the response footprint of multiple units, you can decrease response times.

How often can you really say this happens? I can tell you it is not very often, especially not for high-priority calls.
TAPS, with all due respect, I believe you are misinformed about a few things. First of all, the units you listed here are not always in the same areas. Second of all, the village contracts for one unit. A second unit comes on shift mid-afternoon for extra call coverage and backfill. This does not necessarily mean it is sitting in Wappingers. MLSS covers a huge territory including most of Orange County, Ulster County, and now a large piece of Dutchess County. What I do know for a fact is that they make covering primary response areas a priority. This includes areas in Dutchess such as Fishkill and Wappingers, where no other volunteer ambulances respond and there is a contract in place for such services. I figured if it was going to cause so much of a stir someone should clarify. On a separate note, everyone needs to realize that MLSS is the new guy on the block in Dutchess County but they are not stupid. They have been operating quite efficiently in Orange and Ulster for a very long time. I can assure you they do not do anything without researching first and they are not just running into Poughkeepsie without a solid plan. Also, it appears much of the staff that will be operating in the Poughkeepsie area will be experienced staff, as a matter of fact, I think you will be surprised to see a lot of familiar faces in the area. All politics aside, the important thing is that the city will continue to have excellent emergency services response.

Can't say i agree. Bunch of good, seasoned, City providers will be moving on with this change. As a side bar MLSS has wanted this contract forever....we hated it when they opened up their station in the city limits and would consistently buff 911 jobs. I remember on occasion where a City FD Captain reamed the MLSS crew out for their buffing efforts. Obviously my loyalty lies with the Alamo holdovers (now TC) and it upsets me that they will either have to move on or go through another change of shirts...those that regularly work out of the city are loyal, dedicated, enthusiastic and have great working relationships with FD and PD. It's going to take time for things to re-formulated.
Oh well, such is par for the course in Dutchess county