A former top lawmaker and fire chiefs from several towns outside of Bangor are talking about a plan to improve ambulance services across the area. This is seen as a way to avoid a financial crisis that could make people wait longer for help.
Ken Fredette, R-Newport, is running unopposed for his old place in the Maine House of Representatives in November.
On Wednesday, he met with the fire chiefs of Corinna, Dixmont, Etna, and Newport to talk about how ambulance services are becoming less available. This year, the state’s rural medical service was found to be “on the edge” or “over” of a financial cliff.
After Fredette saw the ribbon cutting for a new fire station in Corinna last month, the thought came to her. Around the same time, Northern Light Health told the towns in the area that they were going to charge each person $17 for emergency services that the hospital had paid them to provide.
As a result, Fredette is going to bring a unique plan for regionalizing ambulance services to the area to the State House when he gets back there.
Part of what makes this effort so impressive is that similar attempts to get places to work together more have failed in the past. For example, a law from 2007 that punished school districts for not merging schools was one example.
Fredette said, “I think everyone, especially in rural Maine, knows that regionalization is the way to go.”
The Maine Rural Health Research Center released a study last year that found people living more than 25 minutes away from an ambulance station in 15 of Maine’s 16 towns. These areas are called “ambulance deserts.” The state of Maine was named as the second worst in the Northeast for ambulance deserts, after Vermont.
Fire chiefs liked Fredette’s idea, but Newport Fire Chief Jeff Chretien said that towns should learn more about how the “dam’s about to break” and talk about it first. They should also be aware that regionalization could cost more than Northern Light’s new charge.
“It’s a nasty fight if you want to get anywhere with regionalization and schools, fire departments, or anything else,” Chretien, who has been in charge of Newport’s fire department for 12 years, said Friday. “In my experience, those are tough fights that don’t end well.”
Ryan Hopkins, chief of the local fire department in Dixmont, said that his group depends on Northern Light’s ambulance from Bangor. If it is not available, it goes to nearby Carmel to get help. Hopkins also said that long-term hiring problems would have to be taken into account with regionalization.
It’s just that no one has enough people, Hopkins said. “Everyone feels bad for those who are hurt.”
The fire chief said that Newport, which has about 3,100 people, has had its own city ambulance service for about three years and spends about $700,000 a year on it. A number of other towns in Maine have also tried to focus less on private businesses.
Fredette said that a plan to regionalize ambulance services would look at making an oversight board and a taxing body to make sure that “this type of service lasts for a long time.” He also said that voters in each community would decide if they want a regional medical service in the end.
Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast, who co-chaired the blue ribbon committee on ambulance services, agreed that first, towns need to learn more about EMS services and plan ahead for them.
The speaker said, “Towns are very different.” “They are not the same, but they are very similar.”
Curry’s co-chair on the blue ribbon committee was House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland. Ross is running for a seat in the state Senate in November.
In a statement released Friday, she said that providers are having a hard time because of slow payment rates, problems with hiring and keeping staff, an aging population, and other problems.
When asked about Fredette’s idea, Talbot Ross said that she and her coworkers “welcome all ideas, including regionalization, to make sure Mainers can get this life-saving care.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Northern Light Health’s finances have been unstable, and the company said it could no longer afford to pay towns to provide emergency medical services before a health care system ambulance system comes, as it had done for years.
Newport helped Northern Light run an ambulance that served the town because they “saw the writing on the wall years ago” that they were having money problems, Chretien said, adding that the crisis “has been slowly building.”
“But now it’s so important that it can’t be ignored any longer,” he said.