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EMS representative warns hospital-bed cuts could push more transports to Albany; county ambulance expansion discussed
Summary
Green EMS reported changes including Part 800 pediatric equipment requirements, potential reductions at Columbia Memorial Hospital from 10 ICU beds to 2, call-volume snapshots and a county proposal to add extra ambulances or fly cars to reduce response gaps.
The EMS representative briefed the board on staffing, equipment and system-wide pressures. She said Part 800 changes require pediatric equipment to be in a separate bag and noted that Columbia Memorial Hospital has proposed reducing its ICU capacity, which could push more ambulance transports to Albany and lengthen turnaround times at hospitals.
"If this happens, everything will have to go up into Albany," the EMS representative said, warning longer transport distances and delays could reduce ambulance availability. She described work to use AI-enabled charting (ESO) to reduce paperwork time for medics, and said Greene County EMS has proposed adding two or three county vehicles (like fly cars or spare ambulances) to bolster countywide capacity; that expansion would take months to implement and require vehicle procurement and outfitting.
The EMS report included call-volume figures and highlights for the year: examples given included 16 calls (a DUET snapshot with 9 transports) and annual figures such as 41 cardiac arrests with 19 obvious deaths and 47 overdoses. Board members asked about response-time averages and the EMS representative said she could provide more detailed response-time data on request.
The board acknowledged the county's role in supporting ambulance costs (the town received a county check to offset Wyndham Ambulance bills) and discussed the longer-term goal of a countywide ambulance system; no formal funding decision was made at the meeting.
