The Highland Ambulance EMS Board of Directors began meeting in the spring
of 2003 to resolve an operational problem that was plagueing the 3 ambulance
companies that serve the towns of Ashfield (Ashfield Ambulance), Goshen,
Williamsburg, Chesterfield (Goshen Ambulance) Cummington, and Plainfield
(Cummington Ambulance). All three ambulance services are staffed by volunteers
and it was becoming more and more difficult to find volunteers who would
serve during weekday business hours. The solution to this problem is to
have full time paid staff during weekday business hours. Since none of
the ambulance services had enough volume to afford to pay fulltime staff,
the three ambulance companies are joining together as Highland Ambulance
EMS, Inc.
After reviewing the run and billing histories of the three ambulance
service and projecting expenses for fiscal 2005, the board determined
that there would be a shortfall of $92,000. It was determined that the
best way to make up this shorfall was to assess each of the member towns
proportionately based on their annual town clerk census. This was done
and all six towns voted unanimously to approve their assessment.
On July 12, 2004, Highland hired Michael Rock to serve as the ambulance
director for Highland. Highland will operate in a management capacity
for the three ambulance companies pending approval of Highland's application
for a state ambulance license, which should occur in October, 2004. When
Highland is licensed, the three seperate ambulance services will cease
to operate, and all ambulance calls for the six towns will be dispatched
from Highland's headquarters in Goshen. |
