Six weeks into his term, Wiscasset Ambulance Service interim Director Joe McCole updated the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen about the service’s progress, during the board’s Oct. 20 meeting.
McCole laid out a vision for the organization’s structure as it moves forward. The proposed structure involves implementing a new pay scale, which would raise the compensation for the service’s emergency medical technicians and reduce the director to a part-time position.
“We can reallocate the money, lower the manager’s pay, and raise the compensation for EMTs,” McCole said. “They’re already doing the work. The logical next step is to compensate them for it.”
McCole and Town Manager Marian Anderson are surveying neighboring communities about the compensation their ambulance services provide to determine a competitive rate for EMTs, they said. The restructuring of the director’s position would allow the service to raise pay for EMTs without increasing the ambulance service’s budget, McCole said.
Since taking over as interim ambulance director, staffing has stabilized to a small yet extremely skilled and dedicated group of approximately 12 EMTs, McCole said. Licensed drivers have also been added to the roster.
While the transition at the ambulance service has not been easy, the current membership is extremely invested and has taken ownership of the service’s future, McCole said.
The ambulance service is sponsoring a basic EMT training course in January, which will be reserved strictly for Wiscasset residents to increase the membership, McCole said. McCole and Anderson are working to determine if the town can subsidize up to 50 percent of the training, he said.
Current membership completed driver training on Saturday, Oct. 17 and a ride-along program with the Bath Ambulance Service has been established to improve the skill set of the newer EMTs.
$66,000 in uncollected revenue from 2013 to 2015 has been identified and McCole and Anderson are exploring options on how to collect it, he said. The billing process has been streamlined and an electronic system for invoicing has been established. “That was big,” McCole said.
Two grants from the Maine Municipal Association have been applied for – one for an ergonomic work station and one for a hydraulic oxygen tank lifter to help with the transfer of a heavy and cumbersome oxygen cylinder. Uniforms have also been ordered for the core group, McCole said.
A new communication system among the membership involving group text messages has been established, which has improved communication, he said.
A policy about participation in debriefings to prevent post-traumatic stress after difficult calls is in development, McCole said. “They were always offered, but we don’t always allow ourselves to take them,” he said. Debriefings are now becoming part of the ambulance service’s routine.
The service’s ambulance remains under repair at Autotronics in Bangor and the service is still forced to use a loaner from the company not equipped with a radio.
McCole agreed to serve as interim director for a 90-day period in September. McCole has agreed to stay on past the Dec. 5 expiration of his contract at a reduced number of hours, he said. “I want to see this through,” he said.
A new structure for the organization with a part-time director is just a concept, McCole said. With McCole’s role in the organization diminishing, the ambulance service is eager to move forward, and the structure was proposed as a possible option for the future, he said.
Selectmen thanked McCole for his work and offered to support the organization however they could.
“The (ambulance service) is not in as good shape as you may think,” former Selectman Tim Merry said after McCole’s presentation. According to Merry, staffing is still an enormous issue for the ambulance service. The only reason it operates as well as it does is because of two members who provide more than 100 hours of coverage a week, he said.
Merry called for a public forum to collect community input and explore a range of options for the ambulance service’s future. “I can’t imagine sitting in your seat if the ambulance budget rises $100,000,” Merry said.
McCole said he would support a public forum. Services to neighboring communities such as Alna, Edgecomb, and Westport Island, are also under discussion, Anderson said.
