KINGSTON, NY — The municipal ambulance service, operated by the Kingston Fire Department, currently averages about 400 calls per month, according to Police Chief Chris Rea.

Rea provided an update on the ambulance service to the City Council Finance and Audit Committee on Wednesday, Aug. 15, before committee members approved a $556,032 appropriation request to staff eight additional employees the department has hired since the city took over ambulance service from Empress EMS on Jan. 1.

City Treasurer John Tuey added that the council’s action was a formality under an agreement the city council approved earlier this year.

Rea said under the agreement, the department plans to hire a total of 16 new employees to fully staff the ambulance service. He said they have now hired 12 people.

Mayor Steve Noble said the city hopes to fund six of the positions for at least three years with a state SAFER grant. He added that the city has applied for the grant and hopes to know by the end of the year whether it was successful.

The emergency services consistently handle about 400 calls per month, said Rea.

When asked by Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress if this varies from season to season, Rea said the volume of calls remains fairly consistent, but the nature of the calls can change depending on the season.

Rea said that while his department remains overburdened, its members are committed to ensuring that the city’s emergency services run smoothly.

“We made this possible,” he added. “We have three ambulances in constant use. When the population needs our help, we keep our promise that we will be there in three minutes.”

As for billing for the ambulance service, Tuey said the first few months of billing have gone well so far, with the service bringing in just over $150,000 since billing began on June 1.

“We’re seeing some decent numbers,” he said.

He pointed out that the city has not yet approved all payment sources, including Medicaid. “We are waiting for our Medicaid application to be approved,” he said.

Rea expressed optimism for 2025. “We should have enough paramedics, equipment and personnel,” he said.

Rea said he believes 2025 will set the tone for how much revenue billing will bring in compared to the costs of running the ambulance service.

“In a perfect world, it will finance itself,” he said. “I don’t think so.”

Still, Rea believes it will be much cheaper than if the city stayed with Empress. “It won’t come anywhere close to the contract that Empress asked the city for,” he said.

Bryant Drew Andrews, D-Ward 7, questioned how the department will handle a statewide and federal shortage of emergency responders.

Rea said he has three potential candidates on the SUNY Cobleskill officer list who will graduate as paramedics next month, while the department is also eyeing two others on the list who will graduate from Dutchess Community College in December.

“The ones from Dutchess Community College do their ‘riding time’ with us,” Rea said. All paramedic trainees have a set amount of time riding with ambulance crews while they work toward their certification, he explained.

However, Rea acknowledged that recruiting paramedics is not getting any easier and predicted that it will become even more difficult.

But, he said, one advantage his agency has over other emergency services is the ability to move into other roles within the department. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for aspiring paramedics because they could become a firefighter on a fire truck,” he said. “They don’t have to stay on the ambulance for the rest of their career.”

Originally published: 16 August 2024 at 17:49