After failing to win a bid to provide ambulance services for the town of Brunswick, Mohawk Ambulance has decided to reposition staffing at its Brunswick hub. As WAMC’s Samantha Simmons reports, that’s created some scrambling to make sure the Rensselaer County town has sufficient emergency service.
Mohawk’s office of the CEO last week sent out an internal email to undisclosed recipients saying that after several decades of “providing timely EMS to the residents of the town of Brunswick without tax subsidies and without a contract…” it will no longer be “…positioning units during shift out of our Brunswick Station.”
The memo, obtained by WAMC, was sent after the town of Brunswick on Dec. 11 selected the nonprofit North Greenbush Ambulance Association to provide services for more than 12,000 residents.
That contract was set take effect at the start of the year.
Mohawk’s email also states crews will “continue to respond to town of Brunswick requests for service in the same manner as we do other mutual aid requests” with units being asked to reposition to an “Albany-based station or zone.” This would likely increase response times.
In a statement to WAMC, a spokesperson for the for-profit Mohawk Ambulance said, “We currently schedule six ambulances out of our Brunswick Station on a daily basis. Those ambulances are being repositioned during their shift based on call demand with prioritization given to Mohawk’s municipal, health system, and community partnerships.”
With Mohawk Ambulance repositioning its services, several local units have stepped up to help fill in until the agreement between the North Greenbush provider and the town is finalized. That’s according to Mark Balistreri, a Republican Town Councilor in Brunswick.
“We have a temporary solution in place right now,” Balistreri said. “The center Brunswick firehouse was gracious enough to offer their firehouse to house an ambulance. And since Friday, that was at six o'clock, they have a North Greenbush ambulance in their firehouse, 24/7 and then the Eagle Mills firehouse, again, graciously offered their quarters to house an ambulance. And Sand Lake Ambulance stepped up and volunteered to put an ambulance over there during the day.”
Balistreri says the town is working to finalize a five-year contract with the North Greenbush provider to lock in pricing in an effort to not have to raise taxes again.
Balistreri says the cost to cover the roughly $760,000 contract will cause the first increase in taxes in the town in about 30 years. He said because the agreement doesn’t fall under the 2% tax cap, homeowners will be taxed an extra $3 for every $1,000 of their home’s assessed value.
“All the residents were like, ‘We feel that that's important enough, that that we don't mind the extra tax,” Balistreri said.
Mohawk Ambulance had placed a bid around $6 million for yearly services. Sand Lake’s ambulance also responded to the request for proposal.
North Greenbush will staff two ambulances between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. and one overnight ambulances from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The rigs will be staffed by at least one certified paramedic and emergency medical technician. Ryan French is the director of operations for NGAA.
“Our standard level of care is a paramedic to every call which isn't necessarily in line with some national standards and whatnot,” French said.
French says average response times for NGAA in Brunswick is 7 minutes, and in the North Greenbush responses average 8 minutes.
French says it makes sense for North Greenbush to provide services in Brunswick.
“It doesn't really change the service for the town of North Greenbush at all. It just changes the service in the fact that we have another mutual aid partner. The Brunswick town line is like a half a mile from our station, and they weren't a real mutual aid partner.”
Discussion about seeking a new partner to provide service began after a 2023 reestablishment of a town public safety committee.
