From left: Delta Quality Control Manager Chip Getchell and Coopers Mills Fire Department Association member Chuck Vaughan discuss the idea of the ambulance service setting up a satellite location in the fire department’s building as Whitefield Planning Board member Robin Huntley looks on during the Whitefield Select Board meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 21. (Piper Pavelich photo)
Chip Getchell, quality control manager at Delta Ambulance, and Chuck Vaughan, Coopers Mills Fire Department Association member, spoke to the Whitefield Select Board on Tuesday, Nov. 21 about a possible future for Delta Ambulance in Coopers Mills.
According to Getchell, Delta Ambulance is in the process of selling its Augusta building, and is considering the Coopers Mills fire station as a new home. Delta has listed its 10 Cony Road property privately due to interest from local residents, but Getchell said the property will be listed publicly if it is not sold within the next week or so.
Getchell explained that while Delta has a quality base in Augusta, it has more space than its team needs. Additionally, since Delta does not serve Augusta, Getchell described the time it takes to get from the Augusta base to the town lines of the towns they serve as “wasted response time.”
“We’re looking at a call volume of about 10,000 calls a year, but it does not justify a huge base in Augusta,” said Getchell.
Currently, emergency medical services are offered to Whitefield by Delta Ambulance out of its Augusta station. Other towns served out of the Augusta station are Belgrade, China, Rome, Sidney, Smithfield, Somerville, Vassalboro, and Windsor.
Getchell said that Delta is looking into having two smaller satellite bases that will be more efficient to the communities they serve.
The search has had Getchell looking at properties in the North Augusta, Sidney, and Vassalboro area, and properties in China, Whitefield, and Windsor.
Getchell said that the possibility of setting up a base in Whitefield is a great opportunity for Delta.
“We’re very excited about the possibility of becoming part of the community, and actually working with Sheepscot Valley Health Center, working with everyone else in there to try to make this a community service,” said Getchell.
“What we’ve been trying to do with our EMS and fire is get more involved with the community anyway, so (Delta) kind of rolls into that aspect of it,” said Whitefield Select Board Chair Lester Sheaffer Jr.
Delta Ambulance hopes to house two paramedic trucks in the Coopers Mills location, a 24-hour truck and a 12-hour truck. There would be a working crew 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The project is currently in its beginning stages, with Delta and fire department discussing phases for the move.
Phase one, as described by Vaughan, will not cause major change; it will simply be an addition of an ambulance to the area. The second phase would require additional considerations, according to Getchell, so that Delta can make use of the space upstairs in the Coopers Mills fire station.
The third phase could include a possible change to the building. Getchell said adding onto the station the way the architect originally designed so that it can be a mixed-use station – housing a fire truck and ambulances – is a possibility.
Getchell explained that if Coopers Mills is viable, Delta will pay for a couple of new doors, and a couple of exhaust bands.
“From a Coopers Mills resident standpoint, it looks like a no-brainer. If we can make it work and they can make it work … I think with the number of calls and the age of us that live in Coopers Mills, probably there would be an overwhelming desire to have ambulances rather than fire trucks,” said Vaughan.
“In the short term, it feels like a reasonable trade to make because there’s greater need for ambulance service than fire,” said Whitefield Planning Board member Robin Huntley, who was in attendance at the meeting.
The Coopers Mills Fire Department Association, a private organization that serves as a satellite for the Whitefield Fire and Rescue, will discuss the move at its next meeting on Monday, Dec. 4. Getchell said Delta would like to be moved into the Coopers Mills building by the end of December.
The Whitefield Select Board will next meet at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at the central fire station.
