By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — A crucial vote to determine the future of ambulance service provided to the towns of Limestone and Caswell and the Loring Commerce Centre drew a large crowd of interested parties to the Loring Development Authority’s Board of Trustees meeting held on Jan. 9.
Carl Flora, LDA’s president and CEO, outlined the present relationship LDA has with Caribou Fire and Ambulance. For the past 18 years, Caribou has positioned an ambulance at the Loring fire station and when a medical call is received, the Loring firefighters, who are all trained basic emergency medical technicians, take the Caribou vehicle and prepare the patient for transport. Shortly thereafter, another Caribou unit with two paramedic-level EMTs arrives to transport the patient to the hospital. Flora stated that this arrangement has worked out well for Loring
The new proposal would have Crown Ambulance, who has been the provider of service for the towns of Limestone and Caswell during these 18 years, now supply a paramedic-level EMT and ambulance equipped and rated at the paramedic level to Loring, Limestone and Caswell. The ambulance would be stationed at Loring and a Crown paramedic would work in tandem with the full-time Loring firefighter. The firefighter would be required to drive the ambulance to medical emergencies at Loring, Limestone and Caswell. The Crown paramedic would be committed to the service territory and not subject to being repositioned to Fort Fairfield, as is sometimes the case with the current Crown contract.
The 2012 cost to Loring for the Caribou agreement was $10,653. The annual fee that will be charged by Crown will be $8,124, with a $20 credit for each EMS call that the Loring firefighter responds to, which is estimated to be $5,400 annually, leaving the estimated net charge for the Crown contract at $2,724, a significant savings.
Flora explained that the other advantages to the Crown arrangement are that Loring’s initial response gets upgraded to the paramedic level and Limestone now gets the full-time ambulance coverage they have wanted with no additional cost.
Board member Dan LaPointe voiced his concern over patient destination, wondering if the patient would be transported to The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle, where Crown is based out of, when Cary Medical Center in Caribou is the closest hospital. Daryl Boucher of Crown Ambulance explained that critical patients would most certainly be transported to the closest hospital, but anyone whose situation was stable enough to allow for a choice of hospital would have it.
Another question was raised by board member Miles Williams, who wondered if any other communities were allowed to place a bid to provide service for the Limestone communities. Limestone selectperson Marilyn King explained that Caribou’s proposal, which was presented earlier in the year, would have been a $12,000 to $15,000 additional expense to Limestone and the budget committee did not favor it. King continued to explain that the Caribou proposal did not arrive in time to take it to a public vote at the town meeting.
Limestone Fire Chief Paul Durepo also advised the board of his concern about backup staffing in the event of a fire if the Loring firefighter is dispatched on an emergency call. Boucher explained that they would go to a rotation schedule of having volunteers available if that situation ever occurred.
Williams continued with his point about there not being an alternate proposal and motioned to table the vote until one could be obtained and reviewed. LaPointe seconded Williams’ motion. After more discussion, the board voted and approved the Crown proposal, with Williams and LaPointe voting against it and Carol Bell, who is also on the TAMC Board of Trustees, abstaining.
Other matters discussed by the board were the renewing of telemarketing firm Sitel’s lease with the LDA, hiring a consulting firm to help with negotiations for Loring to become an unmanned aerial vehicle test facility and completion of the LDA’s solar panel project. More information about these topics will be made available in the next issue of the Aroostook Republican.
The next meeting of the LDA Board of Trustees will be in April.
