As of January 31, 2022, FEMA contracted ambulances are now assisting with 9-1-1 calls in Genesee County.
One Advanced Life Support ambulance will be available 24/7 and one Basic Life Support Ambulance will be available from 8:00a.m. to 8:00p.m.
“They are here to back up Mercy Ambulance and LeRoy Ambulance services, the duration of service is evaluated each day, based on usage. Thus far the County 9-1-1 EMS demand has been in the normal range, so we have yet to engage them,” says Tim Yaeger, Genesee County Emergency Management Services Coordinator.
The FEMA contracted ambulances have had a base in Batavia since mid-December. Genesee County made their request to NYS on January 31st and the request for use of the FEMA contracted ambulances was approved that day.
“The state originally brought them to assist with inter-facility transports between hospitals, once that demand decreased, they allowed them to be used in the 9-1-1 system. There is no cost for their services to the county.”
Question: Will they be able to stay in the area if and when there is another surge in Covid related calls? Or is there an end date for service? “Unknown, there has not been an established end date, they are evaluated every few days by the state,” says Yaeger.
(Currently, positive Covid cases in Genesee County have lowered from a high of 1,800 cases on January 11th(after 383 positive cases a week earlier on 1/4/22) to 745 positive Covid cases on January 25th, according to the Genesee/Orleans County Health Department data)
Question: How does this relieve volunteer ambulance services in the county, will volunteers be called out first before FEMA? “No change to our current dispatching procedure, they are only used to cover calls for Mercy and LeRoy when they are out of resources.” Yaeger says.
Question: Do think this is a relief for both ambulance services and volunteer ambulances who have been working under great deal of stress during the Pandemic?
Yaeger says, “That is very much the reason, could have used them a couple months ago, but hopefully this will help short term.”