A Message from Neil H. Pelsue, Jr.
President, OHCC Board of Trustees

This letter was sent on January 10, 2005 to the selectboards of Brookline, Jamaica, Newfane, Townshend, and Wardsboro, and to the three first-response units in area towns.

A few weeks ago, each town in the Grace Cottage Ambulance Service area received a request from Otis Health Care Center (OHCC) for a pro-rata subsidy to help offset the cost of the Grace Cottage Ambulance Service. This request stemmed from the fact that operational costs for the ambulance service were putting the entire OHCC facility at increasing financial risk.

Simultaneously, Mark Onyon, former director of Grace Cottage emergency medical services, attempted to develop an ambulance service plan that would integrate volunteer and paid emergency medical staff and reduce operational costs. In the final analysis, neither of these alternatives appeared workable on a sustainable long-term basis. Accordingly, the OHCC Board determined that an agreement with Rescue, Inc. could best provide the necessary high quality of emergency and transport medical services for the residents of and visitors to the West River Valley.

On January 10, the OHCC Board of Trustees voted, at a specially called meeting, to relinquish Grace Cottage’s emergency medical service license, and approved an agreement with Rescue, Inc. of Brattleboro, VT to apply for the license and provide emergency medical services to the area formerly served by Grace Cottage. The transition from Grace Cottage to Rescue, Inc. will be completed by February 1, 2005. Dan Manz, EMS Director for Vermont, has assured us that he will assist OHCC and Rescue, Inc. in completing the license transfer in a timely manner. The Board’s decision was due to the burdening operational costs and the lack of personnel to adequately staff the emergency medical service.

The agreement between Grace Cottage and Rescue, Inc. provides for Rescue, Inc. personnel and equipment to be based at Grace Cottage Hospital. Emergency medical responses will originate from Grace Cottage, just as they have in the past. In addition, Rescue, Inc. will have a paramedic at Grace Cottage, a service that had not been available previously. OHCC is providing a one-year $50,000 subsidy, plus existing equipment, to help support the transition of ambulance services from Grace Cottage to Rescue, Inc. Rescue, Inc. will be discussing terms of service and financial support with each area town. However, the towns are under no obligation to acquire services from Rescue, Inc. Rescue, Inc. will also be visiting with the area volunteer emergency medical service units to continue to involve them in providing ambulance and rescue assistance for the area towns.

Please understand that the OHCC Board’s decision was not reached lightly or easily. Dr. Carlos Otis founded the Grace Cottage Ambulance Service over three decades ago. For most of the time, it operated solely with volunteer emergency medical technicians. Times have changed and it is now necessary to utilize paid emergency medical technicians, thus increasing the cost of providing adequate services.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees I want to thank each and every one of the people who, over the years, made the commitment to train for and make themselves available for emergency and transport medical calls at all hours of the day and on any day of the year. I know personally of their commitment and high quality service as they attended to members of my family and me several times over the years.

Also on behalf of the OHCC Board, I thank each of the five town selectboards for their patience and support regarding this difficult issue. The OHCC Board is confident that Rescue, Inc. will help make this transition as seamless as possible and will provide the high level of emergency and transport medical service that we came to know and expect from the Grace Cottage Ambulance Service.