Community turns out to save Dennysville Ambulance

About two dozen people showed up at the Edmunds Consolidated School gym on March 16 for a public meeting to come up with ideas for saving the Dennysville Volunteer Ambulance Service, which has been in existence since the mid-1960s. One of only two or three volunteer ambulance services in the state, the Dennysville service is struggling to find qualified personnel to maintain its services.
Captain Wayne Seeley explained that the ambulance is very short staffed for EMTs. He listed the following numbers for the 2022 runs for each of the communities served: Dennysville -- 37; Edmunds Township -- 18; Marion Township -- 4; Cathance Township -- 5; Pembroke -- 96. There were also transfers. So far in 2023, there have been 34 runs. The ambulance takes in approximately $500 per run. A new ambulance costs about $250,000, and a smaller van ambulance costs about $100,000. Most ambulance services charge their towns anywhere from $50 to $80 per capita based on their populations.
Seeley noted that ambulance services with paid staff are the norm today. The average pay for a driver and an attendant is $17 per hour each. Most services have people on duty 24 hours a day. Then there are people who are on call at $5 per hour. Whoever is on duty or on call has to be in town and ready to roll when calls come in. Usually a 911 call goes to the dispatch center in Machias, which in turn calls Seeley, and he calls the volunteers on duty. If there are major problems with someone in need, a paramedic from either Machias or Calais has to be called. The Dennysville Ambulance has a mutual aid agreement with Downeast EMS, which has stations in Eastport, Lubec and Machias.
EMTs have to complete a basic 150-hour course. One of these courses is being offered at Washington County Community College in Calais at the end of March, but the course is limited to 16 students and is already full. Three people have signed up who will hopefully be Dennysville Ambulance volunteers, and some are on a wait list for this course. The course, which is free, will be offered again in the fall. Nichole Sawyer, dean of workforce development and community engagement at WCCC, says, "We are definitely aware of the issues facing EMS providers throughout the region and are excited to be able to offer the training this spring and again in the fall. With any luck we will put 16 EMTs to work later this summer and have bold plans to offer a course each semester."
Those who complete the course have to take a written exam to be licensed, and some do not pass this test. Ambulance drivers do not have to be EMTs, but they need to go through a safety class, should be certified to do CPR and should know where medical items are located in the ambulance. During the March 16 meeting, some ideas from the audience on how to save the Dennysville service were: to conduct a letter-writing campaign to legislators urging them to provide state money to help; to contact a pool of people who might be willing to participate in ambulance services; to try to get traveling EMTs and/or paramedics into the area; and, especially, to encourage younger people to volunteer. Another idea was to give people a reduction in their property taxes based on the number of hours they volunteer with the ambulance.
The state legislature is well aware of the crisis facing emergency medical services, with agencies plagued by steadily declining staffing levels over the past decade, poor Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates and high operating costs. Last week a bill was introduced in the legislature to provide a one time, $25 million dollar appropriation to the Department of Public Safety targeting emergency medical services organizations at immediate risk of failing.
Another public meeting regarding the future of the Dennysville Volunteer Ambulance Service is scheduled for Thursday, April 20, at 6 p.m. at the Edmunds school gym. For further information, contact Wayne Seeley at 726-4674.