A crowd attends a meeting of the Somerville Select Board on Wednesday, Feb. 7. One point of discussion was the town’s limited options for emergency medical services. (Molly Rains photo)
The future of emergency medical services in Somerville is uncertain as town leaders weigh a rate increase from current provider Delta Ambulance against limited options for timely, local, and affordable service.
Correspondence from Delta informed the Somerville Select Board of a $10, or 66.6%, increase to its per-capita rate, Somerville Select Board Chair Christopher Johnson first shared at a select board meeting in December.
This raises the cost from $15 to $25 per resident, or to about $15,000 from about $9,000, based on an estimated town population of 600 people, said Town Clerk Samantha Peaslee.
“It’s not just a question of … the money we’re spending, but also that there is someone there to come – which can mean a life. It’s not a simple decision,” Johnson said at the time.
In a continuation of that discussion at the select board’s Wednesday, Feb. 7 meeting, Johnson added that the situation was further complicated by the sale of Delta’s Augusta location, which the board worried would slow the service’s response time. Delta Ambulance is headquartered in Waterville.
“We need to know what their plans are to be able to serve us adequately,” Johnson said.
In a phone call on Friday, Feb. 9, Delta Ambulance Executive Director Chris Mitchell said that the sale of the Augusta building did not mean that the service would cease operations at that location. Rather, Delta will lease the space and continue to run ambulance crews from the building as usual, he said.
Delta is searching for two satellite locations in the southern region of its service area, which covers towns as far north as Smithfield and as far south as Whitefield.
Mitchell said that he expected the prospective satellite locations to ultimately improve the service’s response time for Somerville. For now, until those locations are secured, Mitchell said, “We don’t plan to move out of (Augusta) in the near future.”
As a rural town with a sparse population, Somerville has few options for alternative EMS providers, said select board member Donald Whitmer-Kean on Feb. 7.
“Nobody wants to come to rinky-dink,” he said. “(Delta) were kind of the only people willing to cover us here.”
Mitchell said that Somerville, like many of the towns that Delta provides 911 services to, is classified as a “low call volume” town. Last year, he said, Delta responded to 52 calls in the town, an average of one per week.
Servicing low call volume areas puts more financial strain on EMS providers than does servicing high call volume areas, Mitchell said, because first responders and equipment must be ready at all times to respond to calls that ultimately come in with low frequency from across a wide geographic area.
“Somerville has a low call volume, but they still may need an ambulance at two in the morning – or they may need three ambulances at two in the morning. There’s really no way for us to predict that,” Mitchell said.
Discussion has been ongoing in Whitefield between Delta, the Coopers Mills Volunteer Fire Department Association, and the Whitefield Select Board about the possibility that Delta sublease space in the association’s building.
Members of the Whitefield Fire Association have resisted that proposition, citing concerns that hosting Delta would displace their own engine. Meetings between the parties are ongoing.
“Whitefield would be a dream, because it’s so much closer,” Whitmer-Kean said on Feb. 7, but noted that whether that will come to fruition is unclear.
Other services within a reasonable distance of Somerville charge a range of fees for their services, with some local alternatives charging upwards of $30-$40, he added.
However, “some other towns around us are not signing on” to accept the proposed $25 rate, including Whitefield and Windsor, Johnson said. Some town leaders plan to propose a lower rate to Delta, but how the service will respond is unknown.
“We’re the same demographic as the state, with our aging population and people who are going to be needing (ambulance service),” Whitmer-Kean added.
Delta will present more information about their services and rates to the town during the budget planning process, Johnson said. Until then, the select board will continue to consider its options.
The next meeting of the Somerville Select Board will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in the town office. For more information, call 549-3828 or go to somervillemaine.org.
Attendees watch as Somerville Select Board members Don Chase and Donald Whitmer-Kean review correspondence from Delta Ambulance on Wednesday, Feb. 7. (Molly Rains photo)
