Mont Vernon operates in cooperation with the Amherst Rescue Squad to provide rescue services in town. There are approximately 60 people on the Amherst Rescue Squad at present, of which 5 are from Mont Vernon. The squad is all volunteer, and provides coverage 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Two hours of basic level training and 2 hours of advanced life support are offered every month, which allows volunteers to fulfill requirements for refresher and continuing education courses. One Mont Vernon member is trained as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Intermediate, and four are EMT Basics. Of the total squad, 7 are paramedics, 12 are EMT Intermediates, 2 are drivers in training, and the rest are Basic EMTs. The Explorers (16-18 year olds) are trained as First Responders. Mont Vernon is well-equipped at this time because of our squad members' ready availability within town and their level of training.

Source: Amherst Rescue Squad

The rescue squad receives calls from the Milford Area Communications Center (MACC Base), a local dispatching service of which it is a member. MACC offers 24-hour coverage to six towns (Mont Vernon, Amherst, Greenville, Lyndeborough, Milford, and Wilton) and provides dispatch service for police, rescue, fire, and public works departments.

In Mont Vernon, response time for first responders is within minutes from the time of the call to the scene. The ambulance arrives from Amherst within fifteen minutes.

Facility

The rescue squad operates out of the Amherst police building, where the two ambulances are housed.

Equipment

Mont Vernon has access to all the equipment, facilities, and training opportunities of the Amherst Rescue Squad. Adequate basic medical equipment and a defibrillator are stored in Mont Vernon, either at the fire station or with the squad members.

Mont Vernon pays the Town of Amherst a yearly fee based on a percentage of the Amherst Rescue Squad's annual operating costs plus capital reserves, equal to the percentage of calls to Mont Vernon (the recent trend has been approximately 19%). This annual fee includes training costs.

If Mont Vernon continues the trend of approximately .05 annual calls per capita, when the population reaches 2,500 we should expect 125 calls a year. An ambulance costs approximately $125,000. At approximately $150 per call, it is more cost-effective to continue the present arrangement with Amherst, rather than buying, storing, and insuring our own ambulance. Housing an ambulance in Mont Vernon will not be necessary until well beyond the year 2010.

The Amherst Rescue Squad director does not foresee any large expenditures in the next ten years that will greatly impact Mont Vernon's annual fee. However, procedures changed in 2000, so that users are now charged a fee for an ambulance call. If anything, this should reduce Mont Vernon's annual cost and will not improve the cost-effectiveness of the Town buying its own ambulance. Nevertheless, the situation should be reviewed after a year under the new procedure.

Inventory of Amherst Rescue Squad Equipment

Source: Amherst Rescue Squad

Rescue Squad Call History

Source: Mont Vernon Town Records

Summary of Action Items

Continue current arrangement with Amherst.