EMS Crisis Committee
COLUMBIA FALLS — Frontline workers in Washington County are working hard to solve a growing crisis across the state.
EMT crews across Washington county have assembled in Columbia Falls in an attempt to fight the ongoing EMT crisis.
According to Rick Petrie, the chief operations officer for northeast mobile health, a shortage of workers or money has been exacerbated in the county because of its size and remoteness, and when time is so valuable trying to save lives, they need to fix this problem.
The EMT stations and residents of Washington County have created a committee that will work to find solutions to their problems.
Petrie says, “Our ambulance services are struggling and we’ve reached crisis proportions with a couple of them who say that if they don’t have a solution they need to close their doors”.
During the meeting many of the representatives for each ems group mentioned funding and lack of pay as some of the biggest issues their crews face.
According to nancy parritt, the service representative of petit manan ambulance corp, funding continues to be an issue for many of the ems crews in washington county because they don’t receive an adequate amount from their town which is worsened by the fact that many insurance agency’s only cover up to 85% of an ambulance bill.
This leads stations to cut corners on equipment and staffing.
The lack of staffing makes it so many personnel compensate by working up to and beyond eighty hours a week just to serve their community.
“This conversation needed to be had decades ago. This is going to open up doors between town officials and ambulance services, opening their eyes, educating them on a lack of insurance reimbursements that we get and the need for subsidies from their towns in order for us to stay in business”. says Renee Gray the service chief of Moosabec Ambulance.
Although the large consensus from the meeting was that crews need to receive more funding, to relieve the crisis, it was not the only proposed solution.
Lewis Pinkham, the town manager for Milbridge, believes that crews need to focus more on recruitment.
Pinkham says, “I do not believe that money is going to be the solution to this I think we need to get more younger people involved whether it’s in ems, law enforcement, or dispatch”.
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