A Change to Produce Revenue for Town

Years ago a plan was suggested to the Mayor and Council to allow the Fire Department and the Rescue Squad to charge insurance companies for transport of patients to hospitals. Firemen respond to every call for medical assistance. If the Emergency Squad is on duty, they also respond. Many times, a fireman has to accompany the ambulance to the hospital. This is done free of charge? All auto policies have built in medical payment coverage. Medical insurance and Medicare also cover the transport cost. Westfield does it for free. Why? A

ll firemen and most Squad members are EMTs. If the town charged just the amount paid for by the policy coverage, it could cover the entire cost of emergent medical care now given for free and create a surplus which could effectively underwrite the cost of a few new firemen. The Town refuses to publicly debate this because of some perceived loyalty to the Squad that this would ,in some unstated way, diminish the status of the volunteers. It does not seem reasonable that any group that is sufficiently selfless to volunteer their time and work to the Town would stand in the way of delivering better and more efficient medical aid to the Town.

It is foolish to presume that the Squad would raise any objection to a plan that would benefit the very people the give their time to help. At present, when there is no one at the Squad to man the ambulance, a fireman has to drive over to the Squad to pick up the ambulance and then go to the emergency. That is a waste of precious time. If the Town would recognize the obvious, it would declare the Fire Department as the primary organization and require the two groups to cooperate.

The amount of money lost by the Town is absurd. A. John Blake.