Village Ambulance Elects Board Member, OKs Ambulance Purchase
WILLIAMSTOWN - Anna Flynn Doerle, member service officer and teller supervisor for Greylock Federal Credit Union, was elected to a two-year term on the board of directors of Village Ambulance Service at its March meeting.Doerle will serve as the board's liaison with the Williamstown, Hancock and New Ashford communities, which comprise the service's primary coverage area for emergency medical transportation.
A Williamstown native and graduate of Mount Greylock Regional High School and Elms College, Doerle has been associated with Greylock Federal for 25 years and is based in the Williamstown branch office on East Main Street. She is a resident of Sand Springs Road.
In other business, the board authorized the purchase of a new ambulance. It is expected to be delivered in July and will replace a 2003 vehicle, which has traveled more than 125,000 miles. The new ambulance will be substantially the same as the two others being operated by VAS.
The board also approved moving forward with plans to equip all three ambulances with portable computers on which patient information will be entered. This system will communicate via wireless computer network with North Adams Regional Hospital, enabling the hospital to know what treatment to prepare for as a patient arrives at the emergency room door. The system will also involve the ambulance services in North Adams and Adams.
In reaction to the rapidly rising costs of diesel fuel the board approved a one-third increase in this year's operating budget's line item for fuel costs. The budget now contains $30,000 for diesel fuel. It is still anticipated that VAS will operate in the black during this fiscal year, board members were told. The three VAS ambulances are expected to travel more than 100,000 miles during 2008.
The next meeting of the VAS board will be Wednesday, May 21, at 8 a.m. at the Williams Inn.
