Crown Point ambulance closing

Dec. 19--CROWN POINT -- It appears the Crown Point Rescue Squad will close operations next month because it can't find a medical director.

The Crown Point Fire District has contracted with Lamoille Ambulance Service, a Vermont-based business with an office in Ticonderoga, to provide transports, Crown Point Rescue Capt. James Thomsen told the Press-Republican on Friday.

A six-month search for a physician to serve in that role proved fruitless, he said.

"Without a medical director, the (State) Department of Health can't renew our certificate to operate."

And without one, "we have to close our operations as of Jan. 31."

Crown Point Rescue Squad is part of the A.E. Phelps Volunteer Fire Department of Crown Point.

'MUST BE PHYSICIAN'

Ideally, the medical director would be a physician at a hospital where the squad transports patients, Thomsen said.

"The problem is, Ticonderoga and Elizabethtown (hospitals) only have physician assistants in the emergency room. It (medical director) should be an emergency room physician, but it doesn't have to be."

Thomsen said they tried contacting doctors at other hospitals in the region, including Plattsburgh, Middlebury, Vt., and Burlington, but had no luck finding anyone willing to take the position.

"I had two interested parties. We offered financial compensation. Both backed out."

ENOUGH MEMBERS

Thomsen said he's hoping someone will find out about their plight and call him.

As long as the physician lived in the region, they could satisfy the state requirements by video call and email, he said.

The squad leader said they have enough members -- three EMTs now and four more in training -- and the Fire Department provides drivers for the ambulance.

"We have the skills, the funding," he concluded. "We just don't have a medical director."

STILL FIRST RESPONSE

Should the Rescue Squad have to be disbanded and no longer transport patients, its members may become first responders.

"We're trying to work with the Department of Health to provide first responders at EMT level," Thomsen said. "All transports will likely be done by Lamoille Ambulance; they've been working with us since April."

The first responders will go to the location of emergency medical calls to treat and stabilize the patient until an ambulance arrives, Thomsen said.

"It will be a major change. The Fire Department will still be responding but at a different level."

Reach Thomsen at 796-6423.

Email Lohr McKinstry:

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: @LohrMcKinstry

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