Berlin considers ambulance service switch
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By David Delcore TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: March 25, 2009
BERLIN – Officials in this strategically located community, which is home to the region's medical center as well as two major nursing homes, are weighing their ambulance options.
In a move that may mean yet another blow to Barre Town Emergency Medical Services, which has provided ambulance coverage to most of Berlin for more than a decade, officials have solicited proposals from both Barre and Montpelier for ambulance service. The deadline for submitting those proposals is Friday.
The Montpelier City Council is scheduled to take the matter up tonight, while officials in Barre say they expect to submit a proposal of their own by Friday's deadline.
Barre Town Manager Carl Rogers said BTEMS will do the same in an effort to keep its largest, and arguably most valuable, customer from switching services following the expiration of its latest five-year contract on June 30.
With two other current BTEMS customers – East Montpelier and Calais – scheduled to launch their own largely volunteer ambulance service on July 1, Rogers said the potential loss of Berlin would require further contraction of Barre Town's paramedic-level ambulance service.
"We would have to make changes, big changes if we lost Berlin," Rogers said, noting the need for the ambulance currently stationed at the Berlin Volunteer Fire Station would evaporate and staffing levels would be reduced.
"We wouldn't need to employ as many people as we do," he said.
The town service, which provides round-the-clock ambulance coverage to eight central Vermont communities – including Berlin, East Montpelier and Calais – currently employs more than two dozen full- and part-time emergency medical technicians and paramedics, as well as a full-time director.
Although Rogers said town officials planned for the loss of East Montpelier and Calais when recently quoting a $1.50 increase in the $26 per capita fee BTEMS charges all of the communities it serves, that assumed Berlin and its 2,800-plus residents remain part of the equation. If that were to change it would blow a $77,000 hole in the BTEMS budget, not counting any of the revenue generated by calls for service originating in the community.
According to Rogers, that's what makes Berlin a more valuable customer than East Montpelier and Calais combined. Berlin is home to Central Vermont Medical Center and two of the region's largest nursing homes, including one – Woodridge – that is located on the CVMC campus. Based on current protocols, BTEMS handles most of the transfers between those facilities, as well as long distance transfers from those facilities to other hospitals.
Rogers said town officials had already decided to sell one of the six BTEMS ambulances, based on the looming loss of East Montpelier and Calais, and were hoping to avoid more drastic reductions by keeping Berlin as a customer.
Berlin Town Administrator Jeff Schulz said the decision to solicit proposals for ambulance coverage was based, at least in part, on concern that BTEMS might significantly increase its prices to make up for the loss of East Montpelier and Calais.
Schulz said the selectboard solicited proposals for five-year contracts from BTEMS, Barre, Montpelier and Northfield. The latter community currently provides ambulance coverage on a contractual basis to the Riverton section of Berlin.
Northfield Municipal Manager Nanci Allard said the town flirted with the possibility of submitting a proposal for the entire town of Berlin, as it does to neighboring Roxbury, but opted against it. Instead, she said Northfield would continue to cover Riverton – a section of Berlin that was specifically excluded from the latest request for proposals.
Barre Town has provided ambulance service to Berlin since 1996 when several communities, including Berlin, East Montpelier and Calais, opted not to renew their ambulance contracts with Montpelier.
The current ambulance contracts with all three communities were renegotiated in 2004, following a failed attempt by officials in Barre to persuade East Montpelier and Calais to sign a contract with Barre's fire and ambulance department.
Now, East Montpelier and Calais are preparing to go it alone – reducing the population of the BTEMS service area from roughly 18,000 people to just under 14,000 – a loss of approximately $112,000 in per capita fees in addition to any revenue that would have been generated by ambulance calls in those communities.
The potential loss of Berlin would further shrink the BTEMS service area to just over 11,000 people – a figure that includes roughly 7,600 Barre Town residents.
According to Schulz, the proposals that are submitted by Friday's deadline will be opened by the Berlin selectboard when it meets on April 6. A decision could be made at that time, he said.
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