Battling for life-support services
Southbury, private ambulance firm fight to provide aid to town
SOUTHBURY — Responsibility for the town’s paramedic services could soon change hands.
First Selectman Jeffrey Manville said it comes down to whether residents want the town or a private, Danbury-based company in charge if they have a heart attack or other medical emergency.
Southbury officials, who run this service, and those with the Danbury Ambulance Service, have applied to the state to cover the town’s advanced life-support services, which include serious medical emergencies.
The town wants to cover basic life-support services for Southbury Training School, a residential facility for individuals with disabilities.
But the Southbury Ambulance Association and Heritage Village Ambulance Association, which provide basic services like CPR to town residents, have lambasted the town’s plan.
Manville said it is critical the town continues to provide
paramedic services, rather than the Danbury company. “We would have no control over (the Danbury Ambulance Service),” he said. “We would have no input to it. It would be their area.”
Joe Desimone, president and CEO of Danbury Ambulance Service, said his company has experience the town lacks and could provide the “highest level of care.” The private company has worked in the Danbury area, including in Southbury, for decades.
“We can do the service tomorrow because we are a licensed provider and that is the key,” he said.
Geralyn Hoyt, chief of the Southbury Ambulance Association, said the town could not adequately serve residents and warned lives could be in danger.
“The government has no place in EMS,” she said. “The government can’t do anything efficiently. I’m going to allow the government to take care of my kids in the time of an emergency? Absolutely not.”
She said the town would need to spend millions on vehicles and staff.
Manville said the town does not yet know the cost of the proposal, but its expense has been exaggerated.
He said the town already provides paramedic services for the entirety of Southbury through a contract with Campion Ambulance, which is based in Waterbury. Manville said the town pays Campion $280,000 a year.
In an online petition, the Southbury Ambulance Association describes the town’s plan as a “takeover” of ambulance services.
But Manville said he does not understand the association’s ire.
“There will be no changes to how Southbury Ambulance Association and how Heritage Village Ambulance Association operates,” Manville said. “There is no change for them. None.”
Manville said the town is researching models, including hiring an intown paramedic, to implement if the state approves Southbury’s application. Bid proposals for paramedic services were due this week.
“A paramedic in town would be better for the people of Southbury, so we will look at that and see how we can make that happen in a cost-effective manner,” Manville said.
The town hopes to provide ambulance services to the Southbury Training School, a state-owned facility that Connecticut eventually plans to close.
The state now pays for the Southbury Training School Fire Department to cover this facility. About 200 people live at the training school, a significant decrease from years previously, so it is is no longer worth it for the state to pay for ambulance services, Manville said.
Hoyt said the Southbury Ambulance Association used to cover the training school and it should again. “It should be automatically rubber-stamped back to me,” she said.
But Hoyt said the association has not applied to the state to take over these services.
The state will hold hearings on the Southbury and Danbury applications next month.