by Kristina Gabalski
When the Towns of Clarkson and Sweden switched to Monroe Ambulance as primary responder nearly 18 months ago, many in the community feared it might mean the end of the Brockport Volunteer Ambulance Corps. (BVAC)
In fact, the decision proved to be what might be considered a new beginning for Brockport Ambulance. Over the past year, ambulance corps leaders have been working through a reorganization for the BVAC, which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of continuous service to the Brockport community. As a result, Brockport Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Inc. is now an independent, not-for-profit organization with volunteer members and leaders coming from the community.
Additionally, nine career (part time/ per diem) paramedics have recently been added to the volunteer base, a move which leaders say continues to strengthen the group’s commitment to provide high quality (including Advanced Life Support – ALS) emergency medical services to the Brockport community.
“The Brockport Ambulance didn’t disappear,” Byron Green, BVAC ALS Career Staff Supervisor says. “We’ve been here the whole time.”
BVAC President David Rice says all the regulatory/legal work for the spin-off of ambulance operations from the Village of Brockport is complete. Only “crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s” on final issues like not-for-profit status need to be finished.
“Our primary focus is getting our feet back on the ground,” Rice says.
The process of reaching this point hasn’t been easy, however. The past 18 months have been long and often frustrating for ambulance corps members.
A long-standing dispute between the village and the towns over what to do with third-party ambulance billing surpluses lead the towns to make the switch to Monroe Ambulance at the end of 2010.
BVAC Chief Jim Toole says what happened at that time was outside of the ambulance group’s control.
“Brockport Ambulance was successful at providing EMS services to Brockport and the towns,” he explains.
“We were caught in the middle,” David Rice adds, “it (was) discouraging.”
In the spring of 2011, Rice says the ambulance corps approached the village about spinning-off operations, a move that would make the BVAC its own agency, independent from the village.
“It’s always been about having a community-based organization to provide EMS services,” Rice explains. “It truly is a labor of love.”
Ambulance corps members made many sacrifices in order to keep the ambulance service going while working through the long regulatory and legal process of becoming independent.
“Volunteers had to step up the game, do a little more,” Byron Green says. “They had to keep showing up for calls and be visibly seen.”
“It’s a testament to the organization,” Rice says. “Kudos go out to everybody in the organization. To keep moving forward, we all had to sacrifice.”
But the ambulance also received support and encouragement, sometimes from unexpected places.
“We received support from other EMS agencies,” Green says, “from surrounding villages and even commercial ambulance services(including Monroe). They told us we were doing the right thing.”
The process also meant Brockport Ambulance members often found themselves in unchartered waters at times.
“We were looked at as a new organization by the State Department of Health and Regional EMS,” Rice says. “We had to go through the hoops, the legal and regulatory requirements.”
Green notes that the experience of the BVAC helped to set the standard for how the process will go forward for other agencies attempting to do the same thing. “We broke that ground,” he says.
Financially, the BVAC was fortunate to have, “a fall back position,” Rice says. The Brockport Ambulance and Fire Department had received a sizable donation from the estate of a resident who died in the late 1990s. Rice says the ambulance carefully managed that money and it provided the seed money (in addition to some borrowing) to get the Brockport Ambulance through the reorganization process.
Rice says the BVAC will soon have final approval to bill Medicare/Medicaid and private insurance for services provided. “Once we get the cash flow settled down it will be easier to manage the business as a whole,” he says.
Currently, the ambulance is housed – as it has been for decades – at the main firehouse on Market St. in the village. Once the newly formed joint fire district takes ownership of the building from the village, the ambulance will need to re-negotiate a contract with the fire district in order to stay.
“We would like to stay here,” Rice says. “There is a rich tradition of the ambulance being part of the fire department. That history doesn’t go away overnight.”
“We work very well with the fire department,” Toole says. “The fire chiefs, the board of directors and the fire district commissioners have been very helpful and are wishing to continue the excellent working relationship.”
Rice, Green and Toole also say they hope the towns will switch back to Brockport Ambulance as their primary responder in the near future.
“It’s not our decision to make,” Rice notes, but, “the playing field is a little different now.”
He says the ambulance currently is in a position to show the towns it can be run as an effective and efficient operation.
Members of the ambulance corps just want to “go back to doing what they did before,” Green says.
“We’ve been here, we plan on being here and we really want to see this thing get off the ground so we can give back to the community,” Rice adds.
The Brockport Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Inc. has an operating license for the Village of Brockport and both the towns of Sweden and Clarkson. BVAC continues to provide stand-by response to the towns and residents in the towns who want the Brockport Ambulance to respond should call 911 and request the Brockport Ambulance, Green says.
As Chief Toole puts it, “We’re here and we’re ready and able to provide service.”
