HATFIELD — As representatives of South County EMS propose more than tripling the amount paid for each ambulance response to Hatfield and becoming the primary medical provider, town officials are looking into options for preserving a town-run ambulance.
With an Oct. 19 deadline looming for when South County EMS will adjust the per-call fee from $350 to $1,178, Fire Chief Robert Flaherty warned the Select Board Tuesday that approving these terms would doom the fire department-run service.
“The signing of this agreement essentially does away with Hatfield ambulance in its entirety,” Flaherty said.
Flaherty said his concern is the state’s Office of Emergency Medical Services would see this as cause to remove the existing license, even as Hatfield attempts to shore up its staffing by increasing pay and bringing on firefighter/ paramedics who could staff the department, and ambulance, around the clock.
Flaherty’s comments came as the Select Board met with South County EMS Chief Tim Drumgool and Whately Select Board Chairman Fred Baron, who also chairs the Board of Oversight for South County EMS, about the proposal to increase the rate and be the primary service for Hatfield.
The concern with signing the deal was also expressed by Town Administrator Andrew Levine, who said the town is actively trying to hire new firefighter/ paramedics and to get the department back to sufficient staffing, and is not ready to turn over the primary response.
“It would be our preference to not have (South County) the primary ambulance service, or if we do, to at least better define what that means,” Levine said.
Drumgool explained the proposal comes because the original mutual aid agreement is no longer being followed. That calls for both Hatfield ambulance and South County EMS ambulances to respond, when needed, to each other’s coverage territories.
“This has far surpassed what mutual aid is,” Drumgool said.
He presented statistics showing that South County EMS has responded to 71 calls in Hatfield since July 1, which is more responses than its ambulances have made to Whately and nearly as many as to Sunderland, both member towns. In turn, Hatfield ambulance has responded once to a South County EMS community this year.
Drumgool said there have been 16 days when South County EMS has done more than one response to Hatfield, and four days where it has done more than two responses. Drumgool said he would define mutual aid as handling 15% or fewer of a community’s calls, yet South County EMS handled 30% of Hatfield’s calls last fiscal year, and 21% the previous year.
This has also meant missing calls in Sunderland, Whately and Deerfield, with six of the 24 missed calls over that time span attributed to a South County EMS ambulance being in Hatfield.
The $1,178 charge reflects the gross per-call cost for South County EMS, with an additional 10% bump for administrative, fuel and supply expenses. Baron said the arrangement would be for the rest of the fiscal year and would then be revisited and renegotiated if Hatfield is looking at a longer-term relationship.
But it’s unclear if Hatfield is ready to give up ambulance and whether there could be a different interim arrangement.
Select Board Chairman Luke Longstreeth said there should be a way to have a counterproposal, such as maintaining the lower per-call cost for the first five mutual aid calls. He also suggested the $1,178 proposal is excessive considering the $700 or so in insurance reimbursement per call, meaning South County EMS would be collecting nearly $1,900 per call. That is well above the $500 to $550 per call member towns are paying.
Drumgool said this is not out of line, pointing to New Salem, which is charged by Orange about $1,100 based on their assessment model and others in Franklin County are assessed similarly.
“This number fits in with the numbers that are being used countywide,” Drumgool said.
Drumgool said he is open to having Hatfield as a member, at an estimated $262,000 annual cost for service, but there would need to be tweaks to the budget and an increase in staffing. Currently, there are two ambulances on during the day and one ambulance overnight and on weekends. Whether the 360 to 400 calls a year that Hatfield would generate would allow this to increase is uncertain.
Baron said the board has not discussed reconfiguration, though members wouldn’t be opposed so long as it doesn’t increase cost to the other communities or increase response time.
Select Board member Ed Jaworski said he would be willing to ask the town again to fund Hatfield ambulance around the clock, but is not sure whether this will be supported by residents.
In both 2024 and 2025, voters rejected such spending, with the more recent a $480,200 request for additional funding for personnel to staff the fire and ambulance departments.
But Jaworski said his understanding is that circumstances have changed.
“If it’s going to cost more, unfortunately it’s going to cost more, and if there’s no other option, there’s no other option,” Jaworski said.
Select Board member Julia Frisby said the sentiment in town is to have a town-run ambulance and not rely on South County EMS.
Flaherty said the decision for residents will likely be to either increase property taxes to pay town staff, or to do likewise to pay South County EMS employees.
“You are down to two options: you are raising taxes one way or another; it’s just where the money is ultimately going to go,” Flaherty said.
