TROY — People calling for help in Troy may have to wait longer than usual for medics to show up.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 11:00, the Troy Fire Department has changed its ambulance services due to staffing issues.
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Troy Fire Department Union President Thomas Reed said keeping firefighters on the job is a huge issue everywhere right now, especially in Troy.
He added that almost every day, they have the minimum number of people on shift.
“We don’t let it affect our care for the citizens. You know, we still go out and you know, we give 100% every time we’re there,” Reed said.
But that doesn’t mean Reed isn’t concerned about what limiting Medic 11’s services will do to the community.
“It’s going to impact response times,” he said.
Troy Fire Department Medic 11 will no longer respond to high-priority or critical calls in its response area.
It will only respond if three or more high-priority or critical calls come in at the same time, according to Reed.
Medics 12 and 13 will take over those calls in Medic 11’s service area.
“Pretty much Medic 11 is now being pushed aside and we’re having our substations, which are outer stations that are pretty much coming in for the more critical calls in 11’s area, while also covering our own stations,” Reed said.
This comes after Premier Health and Upper Valley Medical Center donated Medic 15, a sprinter van, to take low-priority calls within the city.
Monday marks the second week that the new ambulance has been in service.
“Initially, we were told the way it was going to work was that the overtime person, one of the members downtown Station 11, they were going to staff Medic 15, which is the sprinter unit. And if any low-priority call came in anywhere in the city, that unit was, you know, going to take that call if they were in service,” Reed said.
“We were also told that the 11, which is normally downtown, they would be taking any high priority calls, so critical calls. But that did change,” Reed continued.
Troy Communications Coordinator sent News Center 7’s Taylor Robertson a statement on behalf of the fire department.
Today marks the second week that the new Troy Fire Department ambulance has been in limited service. Thanks to the generous support of the UVMC Foundation and Premier Health, this unit is answering low-priority calls during peak times of the weekday. Our Fire Command Staff, led by Chief Matt Simmons, analyzed call volumes and found that, while our department workload is within the national standards, 68 percent of our calls occur between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., and nearly 75 percent of those calls are low-priority. At this time, we plan to staff this ambulance during the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday.
This means Station 11 now has two ambulances: Medic 11 and the additional new ambulance, Medic 15. To help staff the Medic 15, we have scheduled an additional firefighter at Station 11. When Medic 15 is responding to a call from Station 11, we still have personnel at Station 11 capable of responding with the ALS-equipped engine or Medic 11 to our downtown district. Of course, we still have ambulances and engines at Stations 12 and 13 available to respond to calls.
As previously stated by Mayor Robin Oda, “We’re very thankful to UVMC and Premier for this new ambulance, which will provide additional emergency support to our citizens. We remain good stewards of taxpayer funding and are always looking at ways we can improve and increase services to our community.”
— Troy Communication Coordinator
Reed said the union does not agree with this statement.
“We just don’t feel it’s appropriate with our turnover rate and everything like that. You know, we’re having trouble even staffing our own vehicles right now,” Reed said.
He said he wants people in Troy to know, despite crews feeling stretched thin here, that won’t change how they treat people who need help.
News Center 7 checked the fire department’s website and saw they are hiring.
Reed said they have about four openings.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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