Expert says both proposals viable but prefers hospital-linked Aetna for deployment and medical control; cross-examination probes staffing, 'pit crew' and costs

Expert testimony resumed after a break and counsel cross‑examined the witness, identified in the record as Mr. Gunderson, about the basis for his comparative evaluation of the two competing EMS proposals for Wethersfield.

Bottom line from the witness: Mr. Gunderson said both proposals are viable, but between the two he “would probably give a little bit more strength to the Aetna proposal” based on a number of operational factors including dynamic deployment, hospital-aligned medical control, and Aetna’s longer history of providing ALS-level services.

What Gunderson said about the two proposals - Viability: “I would say both, would be adequate,” Gunderson testified, acknowledging WEMSA’s local model could work and that the staffing arrangement WEMSA proposes (using a staffing vendor to supply career paramedics) could mitigate recruitment problems. - Deployment model: Gunderson described Aetna’s approach as a dynamic-deployment or system-status-management model that makes “real time adjustments” with commercially available tools (he cited EMS Loop) and agreed that model results in…