LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — In an effort to bring sustainability to the ambulance service, the Board of Selectmen hired the first of two emergency medical technicians.

 

On Monday, Nico Amuso, a four-year member of the Volunteer Fire Department and an emergency medical technician, was hired for the Highway Department. The EMTs will work with the department during the day while also be available to handle medical calls as they come in. He starts on Monday, April 2.

 

"He would be a great person for this, particularly because he worked with the DPW in the past," Town Manager Paul Sieloff said, adding that Amuso has also indicated he'd like to pursue a commercial driver's license as well. "We kind of hit the lottery."

 

Amuso had worked in the Highway Department in the past so is familiar with the job, has worked two years as an EMT, and is a lieutenant in the Fire Department. 

 

"I think this job would be perfect for me. I have a lot of experience with the highway department already," Amuso said.

 

The Selectmen are expected to interview a second candidate at the next meeting. If two EMTs are hired, that's enough to run a rig during the day. The law currently requires both the driver of a rig and the caregiver in the back to be trained EMTs. That requirement has been troublesome for some small, volunteer ambulance services such as Lanesborough. It is often difficult to find two available volunteers during the day shift when most are working other jobs.

 

In the past, the town had tried to hire EMTs solely to run the service. But, the call volume didn't support the expense of doing so. In recent years, the town has noticed a trend with a shortage of call responses -- and increased wait times as ambulances are called from out of town -- an increased amount of patients not paying the bills, and rising costs for certifications and inspections. Those bills are paid for through the billing and insurance reimbursements from calls but with declining revenues, the service had begun to dip into its reserves each year to offset those costs.

 

Selectman Henry Sayers worried about that trend, not wanting to have the service ultimately ask the town to purchase a new ambulance when that time comes. He suggested the town contract with County Ambulance instead, essentially eliminating the town's volunteer service. But that was faced with significant pushback from the volunteers.

 

Sieloff had recently proposed eliminating the town's expense on seasonal labor and instead of putting that toward two new full-time staff members in the Highway Department. But, those staffers would be EMTs as well who would be able to leave the job and handle a call.

 

This wasn't Sieloff's first attempt at finding a creative way with existing departments to find EMTs. The town agreed to stipends for EMTs in the Police Department to field calls, but the officers said there are only a few occasions when they could leave the town unprotected to handled a medical call. The officers agreed they'd run the ambulance if there is a life-threatening emergency. Sieloff had also sought to train a seasonal employee to become a medic but that never came to fruition. 

 

Meanwhile, a piece of legislation in the State House is hoped by ambulance service leaders to be a "gamechanger" is still being debated. State Sen. Adam Hinds had filed an amendment to the state's health care bill, and he and state Rep. Paul Mark filed a bill aimed to loosen the requirements for small-town ambulance services. 

 

The legislation would allow Lanesborough, and others, to allow first responders, who are slightly less trained, be drivers on basic life support calls while a certified EMT handles patient care. That bill would boost Lanesborough's ability to get volunteers to the scene, and in turn, lessen the wait times for a patient to receive transportation. 

 

But, as the town waits for that bill, the Selectmen approved the effort to ensure coverage during the most difficult time to find volunteers with the creative hiring. 

 

In other business, the Selectmen raised no concerns with an agreement between the Mount Greylock Regional Transition Committee and New Ashford to ease the increased tuition fees for elementary school students over three years.

 

The Elementary School Committee had previously passed a bill raising the tuition rate to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education per-pupil expenditure rate. But, that more than doubled the tuition rate and New Ashford officials said the cost was too high, too soon.

 

After some back and forth, the newly formed Transition Committee and New Ashford settled on an agreement that would get New Ashford to that rate in three years, with steady jumps in the rate for the next two years. 

 

"We needed to do this compromise if for no other reason than Mount Greylock would not include this tuition amount in their budget request," Sieloff said.

 

The outgoing Sieloff also told the Selectmen on Monday that he believes the search process for his replacement will bring forth candidates by the end of April.