Mobile Life in, Alamo out in New Hamburg

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Saturday, July 15, 2006

Town adjusts ambulance service

Mobile Life in, Alamo out in New Hamburg

By Michael Valkys

Poughkeepsie Journal

Citing concern over response times, the Town of Poughkeepsie has dropped Alamo ambulance from covering New Hamburg and turned to Mobile Life Support Services to handle that community.

Supervisor Patricia Myers said Alamo's coverage of the town's New Hamburg section has been a concern.

"We've been working with Alamo for months to try and improve service and it seems not to be working," Myers said. "If you have an emergency, a minute can seem like hours."

The town joins a growing number of Dutchess County municipalities to drop Alamo in recent years. Wappingers Falls, the Town of Wappinger, the Village of Fishkill and Town of East Fishkill have all replaced Alamo. And Mobile Life's presence in the area has grown accordingly.

Alamo is owned by Health Quest. Officials there said Poughkeepsie leaders did not express service or response time concerns to them.

"What they had told us was it was a business decision on their part," said David Ping, Health Quest's vice president for strategic planning and business development.

Myers said Mobile Life will earn about $24,000 per year to cover New Hamburg through the end of 2007, about the same as Alamo was earning.

"The cost is irrelevant," Myers said. "It's service we're looking at."

The town board voted Wednesday night at town hall to terminate Alamo effective July 31 and hire Mobile Life to take over.

Mobile Life Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Woebse said the Newburgh-based company plans to begin serving New Hamburg on Aug. 1.

"We're looking forward to it," Woebse said, adding the company has performed well in the other communities it serves.

He said Mobile Life has a staff of 280 and 15 stations covering parts of Dutchess, Ulster and Orange counties.

Councilman Jon Baisley, R-1st Ward, who represents New Hamburg, said the time to switch services had come after efforts to work with Alamo failed.

"They were just not up to par," Baisley said. "We just thought it would be time to try someone else."

Michael Valkys can be reached at mvalkys@poughkeepsiejournal.com

This comes during the same week Putnam County dropped Alamo as their ALS provider.

Such losses add up,

In 2004 the Town of Wappinger dropped the ambulance service for Trans Care.

In 2005 The Village of Fishkill dropped the ambulance service for Mobile Life and East Fishkill FD dropped their ALS servicees for Mobile Life.

In 2006 The Village of Wappingers dropped the ambulance service for Mobile Life.

This is all the result of upper managment not resolving issues quick enough or at all.

In Dutchess County Alamo currently still provides ambulance/ALS service to the Town of Fishkill, the City of Poughkeepsie, Beekman and Pawling Fire Districts. They provide ALS and back up ambulance service to Beacon Volunteer, Pleasant Valley, Fairview, Millbrook, Roosevelt & West Clinton.

Who is next or can Alamo correct the obvious problems with upper managment before it is too late?

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If MLSS plays thier cards right, getting the Town of Fishkill to follow suit is probably the next step.

Question now is: How many more hits can Alamo afford to take before the implode?

Does Alamo still service Ulster across the bridge at all?

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If MLSS plays thier cards right, getting the Town of Fishkill to follow suit is probably the next step.

Question now is: How many more hits can Alamo afford to take before the implode?

Does Alamo still service Ulster across the bridge at all?

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Fat chance of that happening! The Town Supervisor has said they "are not going to use a company that is not even located in Dutchess County." Well since that statment was made about 2 years ago, Mobile Life has created a big presence in Dutchess County.

That though will not make a difference.......considering sticking with Alamo is too her benifit as she also sits on a board of a a certain company........

[orangEMT246 6]

How many times are we going to bash Alamo in one week???!!!! ENOUGH ALREADY! With the loss of New Hamburg, Alamo is pretty much where it was before the Sloper merger. With Sloper they got New Hamburg, Wappingers--Town and Village, Fishkill--village? and East Fishkill. Alamo is re-grouping and not going anywhere. Also Alamo is still serving towns in Ulster.