246EMT58

Why is it that we even have this debate in EMS but not other emergency services. Regardless of paid or volunteer for a moment, the VAC was essentially the town ambulance service. The town instead of running their own non-profit chose to contract out to a private for profit company. Now I am sure the town pays something to the company but the company bills the patients for the bulk of it. This is basically like a fair use tax, only those using the service are billed for it.
If someone was to suggest the same arrangement for fire protection (like Rural Metro) this board would erupt into a fire storm of how inadequate the Rural Metro crews were, even if they were promising better service that their predecessors. There would be calls to refuse mutual aid. But do it in EMS and well that's just fine and dandy.
I can't even imagine what the reaction would be if someone suggested privatizing police services.

One big difference. Almost every EMS bill is in large part paid for with a 3rd party insurance.
Also the fire service started out that way (insurance company paying for protection) and it was a disaster. Most cities stopped it, when they determined it was causing arson, riots and conflagrations.
Also, Fire Department funding in most cities is used to reduce insurance premiums and promote development. Good fire depts. help economic development, EMS does not do that.

Sombody ought to give the general public a lesson on how some volunteer EMS agencies work....I agree with a more cost effective option which some refer to as "cheap" but the citizens of Chester would be terrified if they knew how long it takes for a response time or how many calls were not answered by this agency....I've heard that most if not all of the members that apparently "really cared" about their ambulance corps have disapperared, nobody is around and this guy Boardman is basically doing all of this on his own. I've also heard of many good people leaving this place over the years because of how the "people who really cared" were running this place...or not running it ;-) If I lived in Chester knowing what I know, I'd be thrilled that finally this has happened. When an ambulance is needed...one will respond with qualified personel that enjoy their jobs for more reasons then just flying through the town with lights and sirens blaring in some cases with regular unmarked personal vehicles.

Sombody ought to give the general public a lesson on how some volunteer EMS agencies work....I agree with a more cost effective option which some refer to as "cheap" but the citizens of Chester would be terrified if they knew how long it takes for a response time or how many calls were not answered by this agency....I've heard that most if not all of the members that apparently "really cared" about their ambulance corps have disapperared, nobody is around and this guy Boardman is basically doing all of this on his own. I've also heard of many good people leaving this place over the years because of how the "people who really cared" were running this place...or not running it ;-) If I lived in Chester knowing what I know, I'd be thrilled that finally this has happened. When an ambulance is needed...one will respond with qualified personel that enjoy their jobs for more reasons then just flying through the town with lights and sirens blaring in some cases with regular unmarked personal vehicles.

Who is this guy and more importantly who's advising him ! Don't they call this a nusiance lawsuit?

Kind of funny how one of the officers listed on the CVAC Facebook page(there's 2 separate pages by the way, I like the one showing a uniformed member flashing some gangster signs that's professional) lists herself on her own Facebook page being employed by EMSTAR....rumor is that she works in the billing department. hmmmmm...wait what bill wasn't paid??..and the letter CVAC posted doesn't seem to match the article reported by the chronicle..complaints from how PD, FD and residents. If all allegations are cleared than an apology should be made public but for now I'm glad that the residents AND the other public servants within this community will not have to worry about an ambulance/care rendered. Town of Chester took drastic action and I for one am glad they did rather than continue to look the other way for another 8-9 months...P.S. Congrats to our new County Exec.

Show support...? Nothing has been said yet as far as reasons for the shutdown...but I think when something as drastic as this happens isn't a shutdown usually appropriate at least while allegations are sorted out? If the 100k debt is true then mismanagement would be part of the problem/cause. Hypothetically of course if this rumor turns out to be accurate I wouldnt want an organization like this in my community. I've been honored to learn while working alongside MLSS crews, how they manage their business contracts is irrelevant. MLSS is a professional organization that's been serving this area for a long time....and it's because they have a history and reputation for employing professionals.....plus they've held the same name since the beginning, I like that. :-). I like your enthusiasm but I'll wait to show my support until things have been aired and everyone publicly cleared.

If the town found reason that the ambulance service needed to be shut down either temporarilty or permanently then it would be entirely appropriate with them to meet with providers to ensure that coverage was continued in at least the interm. Mobile Life is a well established commercial service with a long track record. They have an continue to provide service like that Chester has secured. If I was a town in Orange County needing stop gap ambulance coverage they would be the top of my list. Meetings for professional services on the municipal level are rarely negotiated in open regular board meeting so that too is perfectly understandable. What has been refered to as secret can easily be looked at as proper "closed" door negotiations. I have personally been tasked with hiring professional services for a town and I met with companys in this format.
As for the shutting of the agency again it would appear that most reasons that would warrant this type of action would allow the board to deliberate and make such determinations in executive session.

As a non resident I don't believe you have any standing to say anything. It's likly that you wouldn't even be permitted to attend a Town of Chester meeting. And pardon me for saying, but it sounds like you have a real hard *n for this MLSS and an unrelistic/unsupported/unsupportable belief in CVAC simply because they happen to be a VAC! Please! Remember Corona VAC in Queens. I say lets wait and see how this develops. Maybe the leadership really knows what they are doing and didn't banrupt the organization. Anything is possible.

http://chroniclenewspaper.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20140116%2FNEWS01%2F140119958%2F-1%2FNEWS%2FChester-fires-its-volunteer-ambulance-corps

This is irresponsible and obviously you have some sort of ax to grind against MLSS. Whiskey and cigars? You state that there was no recent relationship between the town and MLSS, but don't they cover Monroe and Goshen? If I'm the Town Supervisor, the logical first call would be the service that covers the towns on either side of me. What a novel thought......the articles in the press allude to slow response times, complaints by town residents, fiscal problems, and a lack of communication with the town board. To represent that this was all a scheme by MLSS or the Town is just ridiculous and apparently baseless. Unbelieveable....

87D124, First of all, the main reason for the shutdown was the financial mismanagement, and really only the financial mismanagement. Chester VAC has other issues in addition to the debt and missing calls. Secondly, Emstar was providing BLS crews for Chester VAC, however, Chester stopped paying their Emstar bill, so Emstar pulled the BLS crews. And yes Emstar is a multi-state company with a lot of resources, but you would never know it. It's getting more and more common to hear them have very long response times to 911 calls, such as coming from Rockland for a call 20 minutes away from the Orange County/Rockland County border in Orange County. Personally, having worked with Emstar many times for ALS intercepts, I will say that most of their crews either Medics or EMTs have yet to impress me. Don't get me wrong, there are Emstar personnel who I think are great and do their job well, but the majority of their staff is less than impressive, including a few who I don't want in my ambulance. And all of these secret meetings you keep talking about with MLSS, you should come down to Emstar territory and listen to some of the stories about how Emstar does business. They will downright lie about anything if they think it'll help Emstar some how. Next you'll be saying that MLSS had secret meetings with Saint Anthony's administration and that's why Saint Anthony's ER now calls MLSS for inter-facility transports. And the reason this didn't really come out until now is that Neuhaus didn't want his name attached to shutting down volunteers while he was running for county Exec., but this has been going on for quite a while.

Show support...? Nothing has been said yet as far as reasons for the shutdown...but I think when something as drastic as this happens isn't a shutdown usually appropriate at least while allegations are sorted out? If the 100k debt is true then mismanagement would be part of the problem/cause. Hypothetically of course if this rumor turns out to be accurate I wouldnt want an organization like this in my community. I've been honored to learn while working alongside MLSS crews, how they manage their business contracts is irrelevant. MLSS is a professional organization that's been serving this area for a long time....and it's because they have a history and reputation for employing professionals.....plus they've held the same name since the beginning, I like that. :-). I like your enthusiasm but I'll wait to show my support until things have been aired and everyone publicly cleared.

Show support...? Nothing has been said yet as far as reasons for the shutdown...but I think when something as drastic as this happens isn't a shutdown usually appropriate at least while allegations are sorted out? If the 100k debt is true then mismanagement would be part of the problem/cause. Hypothetically of course if this rumor turns out to be accurate I wouldnt want an organization like this in my community. I've been honored to learn while working alongside MLSS crews, how they manage their business contracts is irrelevant. MLSS is a professional organization that's been serving this area for a long time....and it's because they have a history and reputation for employing professionals.....plus they've held the same name since the beginning, I like that. :-). I like your enthusiasm but I'll wait to show my support until things have been aired and everyone publicly cleared.

Show support...? Nothing has been said yet as far as reasons for the shutdown...but I think when something as drastic as this happens isn't a shutdown usually appropriate at least while allegations are sorted out? If the 100k debt is true then mismanagement would be part of the problem/cause. Hypothetically of course if this rumor turns out to be accurate I wouldnt want an organization like this in my community. I've been honored to learn while working alongside MLSS crews, how they manage their business contracts is irrelevant. MLSS is a professional organization that's been serving this area for a long time....and it's because they have a history and reputation for employing professionals.....plus they've held the same name since the beginning, I like that. :-). I like your enthusiasm but I'll wait to show my support until things have been aired and everyone publicly cleared.

Are you not aware that NWVAC is one of the top agencies in Orange County? Yeah, they got shut down by a former Town Supervisor, but I bet that you did not know that there were secret meetings between MLSS Management & the Town Supervisor. The day before NWVAC was shut down, there was a meeting between the NWVAC Chief & Supervisor about NWVAC getting their own medics. Well, MLSS was contacted by the Town Supervisor and asked how much they would charge the town to provide ambulance service. That number was a lot lower than NWVACs number, so the next day, the MLSS Administration had an off site meeting with the Town Supervisor. Next thing you know, NWVAC gets shut down and MLSS takes over EMS for the town.
In the end.........NWVAC came back, better than ever.....and the Town Supervisor was voted out of office.

Yes I did know. All you say is absolutly true They are, for all I can see, a top EMS agency, now. I always see ads in the paper offering CPR & first aid classes to their community. As you mentioned MLSS was INVITED in by the then town supervisor. He did this after a rather long peiod of time of NWVAC not being able to ans their calls due to problems with riding membership. After a, again, long period of trying to work with them he did the only thing a responsible official could do, he called in someone who would take care off his citizens. It wasn't until AFTER this happened that NWVAC reorganized, restructed & yes retaliated, making him out to be the bad guy. He was indeed defeated & voted out of office in the next election. I can't help but to appalud his courage, He had to know that it was going to cost him. Today NWVAC, an outstanding organization, is a model for others to follow and an example of what can be done. It's just a shame that the events had to go the way they did in order to bring it to pass.