Chautauqua County EMS leaders outline plan to implement Senate Bill 7501
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Summary
County emergency services staff told legislators they are preparing a countywide EMS response plan under Senate Bill 7501, emphasizing coordination with municipalities, the regional EMS council and data collection; staff said the plan is a coordinating blueprint, not a county takeover of local EMS providers.
Noel Gutman, director of emergency services, and Tim Carlson, chief paramedic for County EMS, briefed the Public Safety Committee Feb. 18 on implementation work for New York State Senate Bill 7501, which directs counties to develop EMS response plans.
Gutman said the statute requires counties to work with towns, cities, villages and the EMS council to identify areas of need, funding options and response metrics. "This is a plan for us to work with all those departments, all those municipalities, all those fire departments to document how they're doing their job, how the county could help," Gutman said, adding the county is the author of the plan but not seeking to take over local EMS operations. Carlson and other staff said they expect to coordinate with the Southwestern Regional EMS Council and neighboring counties where appropriate.
Officials described practical challenges: Chautauqua County has roughly 40 fire departments collectively responding to about 25,000 calls a year, and roughly 80–82% of those are EMS-related, Gutman said. They are collecting data from volunteer departments (about 37 of 40 had responded to an initial survey) and plan follow-up surveys to capture provider counts and certification levels. Gutman noted the county sought, but did not receive, a previously budgeted software purchase that would have aided data mining and said the work will require significant staff time or outside assistance if timelines remain tight.
The committee heard questions about timelines, cooperation with municipal partners and whether template guidance has been provided; Gutman called the statutory language "specifically vague" about details and said the county is preparing matrices and using the regional council's guidance. He said the county is hopeful the timeline may be extended but is proceeding to produce a factual blueprint of current operations and recommended improvements.
Next steps: county EMS staff will continue outreach to municipalities, work with the regional EMS council on metrics and produce a draft plan for review and county-level coordination.