Opinion piece:
Volunteer EMS in Allegany County is dying. EMS agencies need to prepare for the future. The state DOH (Department of Health) wants "paid professionals" instead of "volunteer professionals". The mandates, paperwork, training requirements and overall lack of participation is taxing us beyond belief.
We need a change and it is my opinion that all of our volunteer agencies need to band together a form a single combination agency. An agency that would have a combination of paid and volunteer members.
There isn't enough call volume in this county to support a single paid for-profit agency. Something like that would put a terrible burden on the tax payers when it comes to ambulance contracts with local municipalities.
We need a step in the right direction. We have been headed down the wrong path for too long.
Nick Horton
