To the Editor:

We all assume that our local rescue squad or ambulance service will always be there if we need them. In fact many of these services are currently struggling due to inadequate funding and staffing challenges. A bill proposed in the State Legislature would authorize the Department of Health to establish a NYS Rural Ambulance Service Task Force to study how best to help our rural Emergency Medical Services. The creation of this task force is supported by the NYS Volunteer Ambulance and Rescue Association (NYSVARA), whose members live and work across the North Country.

The League of Women Voters also supports creating this Task Force. The League believes that every New Yorker should have access to a basic level of quality healthcare, including acute care, of which ambulance services are an essential component. Rural residents are chronically underserved when it comes to healthcare, and the problems facing rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are often completely overlooked. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has raised awareness of the importance of EMS everywhere, including in rural communities.

Now is the time to establish a Task Force to systematically identify service gaps and to recommend how best to stabilize the finances of rural EMS, so that they can modernize their staffing, technology and equipment. The dedicated and hardworking volunteers, as well as the paid emergency medical technicians (EMTs) of rural New York, deserve nothing less.

The residents of our rural areas deserve it as well. As NYSVARA points out, “Better patient-centered care in the pre-hospital setting means better patient outcomes.” (NYSVARA Statement of Support, March 2021) The future quality of life of every one of us, and of those we love, is at stake whenever we call our local Emergency Rescue Service. And yet there is a shortage of EMTs statewide, owing largely to the low wages they are paid, despite the highly skilled work they do.

Please contact your state Senator and Assemblyperson now and tell them to support the establishment of the NYS Rural Ambulance Service Task Force. This is a necessary first step in addressing the problems besetting this crucial part of our rural healthcare system, and finding long-term solutions.

Kathleen Stein, President LWV
St.Lawrence County Convener,
LWV NYS Rural Caucus