That town had already signed a contract with another ambulance service before the 45th Parallel proposal was ready for the public. Next Tuesday, March 11, is Town Meeting Day in New Hampshire. Representatives of the transition work group have given presentations at each town’s budget meeting and this week held two public forums for the general public to get their questions and concerns addressed before making their decision at Town Meeting.

The current ambulance system, said project manager Mike Olasin, is broken. “We are approaching 1,000 calls per year, that’s almost three calls per day, and the volunteer EMTs that we have can’t keep up with the runs,” Olasin told about 50 people who attended the Colebrook forum on March 5. “We need to go to a full-time system—this is common throughout the United States,” he said.

Olasin explained that it currently takes an EMT 34-and-a half minutes before they even reach the scene. After the care of the patient and travel time back to the hospital, the average time is 77 minutes—which is 17 minutes beyond what is called the “golden hour’ for getting someone into the emergency room.

With a private, centralized facility, said Olasin, “We will have one ambulance for 9-1-1, one for transfers and one for a backup. We would implement a fast-response model and pay on-call EMTs who will have oxygen and defibrillators, so when they are close to a scene they can go directly there while at the same time the ambulance is dispatched to the scene. This cuts the response time in half 90 percent of the time.” While currently there are volunteer EMTs living in area towns, the proposal calls for the volunteers to continue serving as these fast-responders (who will be given a higher level of training), while there would be 11 EMTs hired to work at the central facility.

Their schedule would fluctuate throughout the week so that the facility would then be staffed 24 hours a day seven days a week. The overall basic plan includes a chief who is also a working EMT, an administrative/clerical person who is also an EMT, three fast responders on call at all times, eight EMTs who would be the 9 -1-1 crew, two EMTs who would be a backup team and who would handle transfers.

Many at the Colebrook meeting were asking why a new facility needed to be built and why couldn’t current structures be used instead. Yvonne Burrill of Colebrook asked about using the Colebrook Fire Dept. building, situated on Pleasant Street. “The fire department has outgrown that building, and it’s a perfectly sound building. It would be a good use and better to build a larger facility for the fire department,” she said.

She was told by Colebrook Selectman Larry Rappaport that the fire department building is in the flood plain and thus is prohibited for use as an ambulance facility. Bob Lawton wanted to know why the hospital was giving up its ambulance service and Olasin explained that the hospital, as a critical access facility, is limited on how much they can collect in billing fees for the ambulance service. “A stand-alone entity can do more,” he said. Hospital CEO Louise McCleery also explained that, while the hospital does have a field where a garage could be built, it was not an option for building an ambulance facility there. “Any option to expand at the hospital to service our community would be compromised with a garage in that field,” she said. Clarksville selectman David Chappell asked what would happen if someone from a town who is a part of the service needs an ambulance in a town which does not pay into the service. McCleery told him, “I don’t know; we don’t really know. In the hospital world, we treat everybody who comes in. In the world of the 45th Parallel—based on what happens at town meetings, we’ll have to ask you what are we going to do? I think we put together the best frame and it’s going to be a huge challenge if a town does not fund it.” This same question came up earlier in the week at the Canaan, Vt., Town Meeting. Olasin said at the time that if a town does not vote in the new service, a 9-1-1 operator will not have the 45th Parallel center on their list to call for help. Residents might have to turn to calling state police or a sheriff for assistance. It also was backed up that there are no state laws stipulating that the service has to serve a town even if a town does not provide funds. Several people asked if there was more than a six month budget planned out and they were told, yes, the transition work group had in fact created a four-year budget, but the six-month was being given out because only one year at a time can be apportioned at Town Meeting. “We know how much it’s going to cost, it’s the revenue side that is the challenge,”said McCleery. “So what ever the deficit is, it’s going to fall on the taxpayers?” asked Sam Bird. “The revenue deficit will fall on the participating towns and the Coos County Nursing Hospital,” answered McCleery.

The funding formula for each town is based on population, habitats and the number of runs. While a town like Pittsburg has 13 percent of the area’s population, it has a large second home population, so its tax share is 20 percent of the subsidy (rather than 13 percent).

The town of Colebrook has the highest percentage of ambulance calls (greater than 48 percent) but it has a lower tax valuation of the town. Of the runs to Colebrook, 25 percent are to Colby Commons and Monadnock Village plus other assisted living facilities. Plus, 67 percent of the runs in Colebrook are Medicaid and uninsured patients where the collection rate for the amount billed is 25 percent. The tax rates per breakdown is: Clarksville, 12 cents per thousand, Colebrook 22 cents per thousand, Columbia 10 cents per thousand, Pittsburg six cents per thousand and Stewartstown is 13 cents per thousand.





COLEBROOK FIRE DEPT. On March 1, at 4:43 p.m., firefighters were called to the scene of a snowmobile accident involving two machines on Trail 18 in East Colebrook. Colebrook Fire Dept. Information Officer Mike Pearson said that department members assisted EMS personnel in treating two victims and, along with Beecher Falls Fire Dept. members, used rescue sleds to transport them about two miles to a waiting ambulance on Route 26.

About two hours later, at 6:55 p.m., department members responded to a report of a structure fire on Route 102 in Lemington, Vt. Colebrook Fire Chief Brett Brooks found the situation to be a controlled burn at the Eugene Reid residence, and canceled the call while fire personnel were en route.

Immediately thereafter, at 7:13 p.m., a mutual aid call from the Stratford Hollow Fire Dept. was answered by an engine, a tanker, and a crew of seven, who were turned abound while en route.

On March 3, at 8:48 a.m., firefighters were called to an apartment in Monadnock Village following a report of smoke and personal injury.

Information Officer Pearson stated that a broken hot water pipe had caused steam to fill the apartment, injuring an elderly resident. Department members assisted EMS personnel at the scene.

On March 5, at 7:30 a.m., firefighters responded to a report that a tractor-trailer unit had jackknifed on Route 3 in Columbia, near Meriden Hill Road. Department members cleaned up fluid leakage at the scene.

UCVH EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES EMS/TRAUMA Coordinator Ed Laverty said that during the week of Feb. 24-March 1 ambulances from the Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital responded to 11 9-1-1 scene calls: four to Colebrook; two each to Canaan, Vt. and Pittsburg; and one each to Beecher Falls, Vt., Columbia, and Errol. In addition, UCVH EMS personnel also responded to three requests for interfacility transfer, one each to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, the Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, and a residence in Errol. This makes a total of 14 calls.


N.H. STATE POLICE On Feb. 25, at 8 a.m., state police responded to a motor vehicle collision in the parking lot of the Coos County Nursing Hospital in West Stewartstown. New Hampshire State Trooper Jesse Sherrill said that Marie Parker, 49, of Columbia was attempting to back into a parking space when her vehicle struck the bumper of an unoccupied parked car. No injuries were reported; both vehicles were able to be driven from the scene.

On Feb. 29, at 7:34 p.m., Trooper Peter Pelletier investigated a report of harassing phone calls that are coming from a location in Errol and are being made to a residence in Santa Monica, Cal. On March 1, at 10:10 a.m.,

Trooper Brian Doyle responded to a dispute between two neighbors in Stark. Later that afternoon, at 1:48 p.m., state police responded to a report of a motor vehicle accident on Halls Stream Road in Pittsburg. Trooper Mike Cote said that Christopher Bissonette, 29, of Pittsburg was cited for driving too fast for the road conditions. He lost control of his vehicle, which struck an embankment and rolled over. There were no injuries.

N.H. FISH AND GAME DEPT. On Feb. 28, at 4:45 p.m., Daniel Bolton, 33, of Pittsburg was operating a snowmachine on the Spooner Hill Trail when, on a corner, he lost control of his machine, which threw him off before hitting a softwood tree and finally coming to a stop, with no damage done to the machine. N.H. Fish and Game Officer Chris Egan said that Bolton suffered lifethreatening injuries and was treated at the scene by Pittsburg Rescue and Ambulance personnel before he was eventually transported to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical enter in Lebanon by the DHART helicopter.

On March 1, at 4:30 p.m., Brittany Rhoades, 14, of Epsom was operating a snowmachine on Trail 18 in Colebrook when, on a curve, her machine was struck head-on by another operated by Brian Kinsman, 14, of Colebrook. Officer Egan stated that it appeared Kinsman was traveling on the wrong side of the trail, and speed was not a factor. Rhoades received neck and head injuries, and both teenagers were taken by rescue sleds to ambulances and were then transported to the Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital in Colebrook, where they were treated and released.

CANAAN, VT., POLICE On March 1, at 12:30 p.m., Priscilla Deamoral, 33, of New Bedford, Mass., was operating a 2006 Yamaha snowmachine on a trail behind Reservoir Road when, reportedly due to driver inexperience, she incorrectly attempted to get back onto the trail, losing control of her machine, which hit a tree and ejected her. Canaan Police Chief Jeff Noyes reported that Deamoral was taken to the Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital. She was cited for operating an unregistered and unlicensed snowmachine.

BEECHER FALLS FIRE DEPT. On March 1, at 12:30 p.m., firefighters were called to the scene of a snowmachine accident on a trail behind Reservoir Road in Canaan, Vt. Department members used a rescue sled to move a victim to a waiting ambulance. Later that afternoon, at 4:45 p.m., fire personnel were called by the Colebrook Fire Dept. to aid in a twosnowmachine accident on Trail 18 in Colebrook. Again, a rescue sled was used to transport a victim out onto the highway to a waiting ambulance.
On March 3, at 10:30 a.m., a medical emergency was handled in West Stewartstown

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