The flat-out dishonesty has destroyed our ability to trust them in future dealings”

Ken Gardner, OVRS Chief

BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

OGDENSBURG — North Star Health Alliance's plan to bring a new ambulance service to the area will not have support from the City of Ogdensburg or the City's volunteer rescue squad.

Earlier this month North Star shared its plan to seek state approval to establish a new ambulance service in order to help provide transports from Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center to other regional hospitals.

CEO Rich Duvall said the need had been growing in recent years and that the plan called for adding three ambulances in the new service which would focus on providing patient transports to and from facilities.

On Monday though Ogdensburg Volunteer Rescue Squad Chief Ken Gardner urged council to oppose the plan.

“The OVRS is seeing an increase in patients requesting to be taken to facilities other than CHMC. A request that we accommodate in non-life-threatening situations. We are required to do this by law. This means that our 30-40 minute ambulance call is now an hour and a half to two plus hour call, often leaving our service area dependent upon mutual aid from neighboring communities,” Gardner said. “It is our opinion that CHMC and the NorthStar Health Alliance would better serve Ogdensburg and the surrounding communities by investing in bringing additional Physicians and Medical Services to the community, not trying to enter the Ambulance Business.”

Gardner said that the area does not have a shortage of ambulance providers, but rather a shortage of staff. He said adding the new service would pull drivers and EMS workers from an already limited pool of workers.

"There is no need for additional ambulance services. There is a need for additional personnel to staff the existing ambulances and allow us to meet their needs. The problem is that there is a severe shortage of paramedics available to hire. Not only here, but state and nationwide. In NYS 70% of all certified EMS providers are working at two or more services to make a living. Their 30 proposed employees would be poached from the existing services, further threatening the existence of many ambulance companies in all three counties," he said.

Gardner said that in recent months his agency has been in talks about how to better meet the needs of the hospital and had been working on solutions to the patient transport problem.

He said his agency was blindsided by North Star's decision to seek approval for a new license.

Gardner said that while North Star says the new ambulances will be used for patient transports, the licenses do not come with restrictions. He said that he personally believes it's an attempt to generate revenue and expects that the number of ambulances would grow as they start to answer other emergency calls.

"The flat-out dishonesty has destroyed our ability to trust them in future dealings," Gardner told council.

"Although we will still sit down with representatives from North-Star Alliance and try (to) come to a solution to the problem they created, we believe the reality is that they want to purchase three ambulances and hire 30 employees to start, with an eye toward future expansion."

In his announcement Duvall said that is not the case and said that even with the addition of three ambulances, other ambulance service providers would still be needed just to complete the inter-hospital transports.

Duvall also sent a letter to the city council and Mayor Michael Tooley asking for a letter of support to submit its application for an ambulance license.

Tooley told his fellow council members he did not feel comfortable supporting the measure without proper time to investigate the matter. He said the deadline requested by North Star did not provide adequate time to properly vet the request.

His sentiment was echoed by Jennifer Stevenson.

Deputy Mayor Dan Skamperle and Councilor Michael Powers both said they would defer to Gardner's expertise on the matter.

Gardner had asked the city to submit a letter of opposition to the plan.

"OVRS has served the City of Ogdensburg and surrounding communities for 65 years now. I also remind you we continue to do so by answering almost 3,000 calls a year and doing so, with a scratch rate of 99%, the best in the county. Since this News has broken, I have also spoken with both State and County Legislators. In speaking with other ambulance companies in St. Lawrence, Lewis and Jefferson counties, all have expressed opposition to this proposed CON by North Star Alliance," Gardner said. "If this Council would like to sit down with me, I am more than willing to do so but until that time, once again, I ask this City Council to not support North Star Alliance’s request and adopt a resolution opposing their request for a Certificate of Need. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Councilors, for your time this evening."

 Powers did share Gardner's concern that the move was more about generating revenue than meeting an existing need. He was also concerned what impact the new service might have on existing services.. His call for a letter of opposition did appear to have support from  Powers, but Tooley said he didn't believe the issue had been vetted enough to submit a letter of support or opposition, which Powers conceded.