Town Council hears Stryker's EMS Plus proposal to replace monitors, lifts and stair chairs; ambulance fund cited as likely source

Pierce Zubilak, a Stryker representative, and Tom McCauley, battalion chief and EMS chief for the St. John Fire/EMS Department, told the Town Council about a proposal to update EMS equipment through a multi‑year program Stryker calls "EMS Plus."

Zubilak explained the program was developed in response to customer needs — including expected FDA service‑life limits on devices, rising equipment prices and the nationwide paramedic shortage — and said EMS Plus bundles equipment replacement, trade‑ins and service coverage.

"What this does is it allows you to take that equipment, and you guys, as a department, as a board, get to choose what equipment gets thrown into that program, and then how long you wanna do that program for," Zubilak said, explaining departments can choose terms from one to seven years and that most departments choose five to seven years.

Zubilak described equipment in the proposal as four cardiac monitors, powered load systems (powered cot lifts), Lucas devices for automated CPR, and powered stair chairs. He said Stryker would include service and preventive maintenance during the contract term and offer trade‑in value for older equipment. He said the proposal included no payment in 2025 (the town could defer to 2026 or take delivery in 2026) and that the program would thereafter carry a flat annual payment. The presentation materials cited a flat annual payment of roughly $112,738 in the example discussed with staff.

McCauley, the EMS chief, said the department already benefits from a preventive maintenance agreement and that new equipment would improve patient care and worker safety. He provided price context for individual items: he said a LifePAK 35 monitor is roughly $55,000, that one new monitor with preventive maintenance could be about $70,800, and said Lucas devices are roughly $20,000 today compared with about $14,000 when first purchased in earlier years. He also said the department’s preventive maintenance agreement currently costs about $20,000 a year but that the EMS Plus program would consolidate equipment, maintenance and replacement into a single predictable payment.

On funding, Zubilak and McCauley told the council the ambulance capital fund would be the likely source for the payments for ambulance‑related equipment. McCauley said ambulance capital contributions are tied to mileage and call volume and indicated the fund increased after the department handled about 300 additional calls last year.

Council members asked about ownership at the end of the term, sales tax on different lease options, training timelines and whether other nearby departments (Crown Point) had used similar programs; Zubilak and McCauley answered that most municipalities select a dollar‑buyout option to own equipment at the end of the term, that Stryker will confirm municipal sales‑tax treatment, that delivery and training could occur within roughly a month to six weeks after ordering and that Crown Point had recently completed a similar program.

No formal council action on EMS Plus occurred at the meeting; Stryker representatives said they would follow up with written materials, trade‑in schedules and answers about sales tax and lease structure for council consideration.