Oswego County FD Reduces Response Obligation
THE CITY OF FULTON, NEW YORK, has sent a letter to the Oswego County E-911 Administrator asking them to remove the city's fire department from responding to non-emergency medical calls. All ambulance calls are currently handled by a private firm, Mentor Ambulance.
The FFD will continue to respond to citizen requests for assistance and requests by Mentor for help on calls, but will not be included on the first response to what they classify as Alpha Level EMS, or non-emergency dispatches.
WSYR-TV Ch. 9 Syracuse filed this video report:
OswegoCountyToday writes:
(Mayor Ron)Woodward believes many of the non-emergency calls are unnecessary. "We live in the ‘you owe me’ generation. The people who don’t have to pay for services are the ones that use them as much as they can," he said. "Some of these ambulance calls are a free ride to Syracuse, then they deny (getting) medical service and go shopping."
He doesn’t believe the change will put people at risk, because Menter Ambulance is located in Fulton and can respond about as quickly as the fire department can.
Woodward doesn’t yet know how much money the change will save, but he knows it makes sense. "what’s it cost to take a hundred foot tower ladder into a neighborhood for someone who doesn’t have an emergency? How smart is that," he asked. "Why would we drag a million dollar piece of equipment to something that wasn’t an emergency?"
Read the entire ARTICLE HERE.
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