NORTHFIELD — The Selectboard unanimously approved a proposal Tuesday for Northfield EMS to provide emergency services to the Millers Falls section of Erving, allowing the EMS department to increase its call volume and thus secure additional revenue.
EMS Chief Mark Fortier and EMS member Camron Kennedy came before the Selectboard to discuss the proposed expansion. Northfield EMS, in addition to serving Northfield, currently provides services to Bernardston.
According to Erving Fire Chief Philip Wonkka, the “Millers Falls section” of Erving that Northfield EMS would service goes roughly from Old State Road to the French King Bridge, straight down Route 63 from Northfield.
This area has been previously serviced by AMR. Ambulance service in Erving is divided between the center district and Millers Falls district, Fortier said, and the center district has ambulance services primarily covered by Orange Fire Rescue EMS.
“Part of what we’re trying to do is continue to add revenue to the Enterprise Fund so that we can continue to staff, staff appropriately and save lives,” Fortier said Tuesday.
Fortier explained the EMS department makes money through billing transported patients who receive a flat fee, plus mileage. However, insurance payments are different for each person. Providing an example, Fortier said someone under 55 with a full-time job who gets into an automobile accident likely will have insurance that pays differently than public policies like Medicaid. And as the local population ages, and more people enter into public health care options, Fortier said Northfield EMS has to increase its call volume to increase revenue.
“I can bill every patient that we get on the road $1 million, but if you’ve got Medicare or Medicaid, I’m only gonna get $300,” Fortier said. “Where I had a Blue Cross Blue Shield person and can bill $3,000 and collect $3,000, I now have to do 10 times for Medicare in order to get that same revenue.”
Selectboard Chair Alex Meisner asked if expanding into Erving would impact the EMS department’s ability to provide services to Northfield residents. Fortier, estimating that roughly five calls a month would come out of the new coverage area, said he does not think this would impact service in Northfield.
By comparison, after its expansion to Bernardston, Northfield EMS received 203 calls from the neighboring town during fiscal year 2020 (from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020). Twenty-five of these calls were ultimately handled by Bernardston first responders and Northfield EMS was canceled en route.
While Fortier noted that the EMS department’s second ambulance is often “underutilized,” he said that if, for some reason, Northfield EMS wasn’t able to staff both ambulances at once, mutual aid from another town would be called.
According to Kennedy, the average call response time for Northfield EMS is approximately 8.94 minutes. The national standard for big cities, like Boston, is 8 minutes.
“We’re slightly above, but we don’t have 36 trucks on the corners of streets waiting for calls,” Kennedy said.
Fortier said his department has increased shift coverage, and its staffing model aims to cover 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The EMS department is currently hiring for a full-time paramedic. The salary is approximately $45,000 a year. More information can be found through Indeed.com or by contacting Fortier at the station at 413-498-5112.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Fortier also sought to clarify Northfield EMS’ financial arrangement with Bernardston, which he said has sparked recent misunderstandings. While Fortier explained Bernardston has “no financial obligation to pay into Northfield EMS,” the town chose to donate $10,000 a year toward the future purchase of an ambulance.
“We signed an agreement, this board signed an agreement, to go into operations with them understanding that there was going to be no charge to them initially,” Fortier said. “Hearing that people were disgruntled we were doing it for free, I reached out to their Finance Committee and Selectboard and met with them.”
However, this $10,000 figure sparked miscommunication, Fortier said, as Northfield Finance Committee members believed it to be an assessment that can be used to offset operational costs. Northfield has yet to receive a payment from Bernardston, Fortier said, because they are continuing to deliberate on the language of this agreement.
“(Northfield) wants it to go into expenses, and Bernardston wants it to go as a donation to an ambulance,” Fortier said Tuesday.
Fortier said he spoke with Town Administrator Andrea Llamas and Finance Committee Chair Lois Stearns, and they were looking into the possibility of creating an ambulance donation account to hold Bernardston’s contribution.
During the same Tuesday meeting, the Selectboard also voted unanimously to approve mutual aid from the Erving Police Department.
Meisner and fellow Selectboard member Heath Cummings said Police Chief Robert Leighton reached out to the Erving Police Department to discuss the agreement, which will allow the Northfield Police Department to call for mutual aid from Erving without having to go through the Shelburne Control Dispatch Center.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.