We have been working this issue for over a year and the concerns regarding Simsbury Ambulance (SAA) have only increased, now coming from a total of EIGHT former and current Simsbury EMS personnel. Five months ago we spoke at the Board of Selectman (BOS) meeting supported by four letters from current and former EMTs and paramedics with over 100 years total EMS experience who wrote the BOS. Four MORE current and former SAA EMS, including EMTs, Paramedics, and even prior SAA Board Members have now written the BOS about the current poor leadership and oversight at SAA and have strongly advocated for action.
Our lives are at stake every day that action is not taken, as happened recently when SAA reportedly chose not to respond to a cardiac arrest in Simsbury, possibly violating the Duty to Act, and leaving it to a neighboring town to respond. The person died while a Simsbury Police Officer did not receive support for 10 to 20 minutes while the SAA Director paramedic reportedly remained sitting in her office. So it seems that our fears of a potentially unnecessary fatality, that we voiced so many times over the past year, may have already materialized due to the current issues at SAA.
The BOS awareness combined with its lack of action to remediate these issues puts the town in the position of being culpable along with the SAA. There is now a tremendous amount of just cause for bidding out the service area. At a minimum the Town must bid out the EMS service and hire a commercial ambulance service that will remove the unpredictability of SVAA’s response in the best interests of Simsbury residents.
We have been talking about this for 13 months and action has been very lacking. It has been 5 months since we spoke at the BOS meeting supported by 4 corresponding serious letters from long-time EMS veterans, 4 months since the possibly preventable fatality occurred, and a number of weeks since the BOS was approached by two more Simsbury EMTs, and then received two more extremely concerning letters from two more EMS personnel. So now a total of EIGHT current and former Simsbury EMS personnel at every level of the organization have expressed extremely serious concerns. EIGHT is a LOT for a small organization. ALL of the concerns align. ALL of us are at risk Right Now, right this minute, if we should need an ambulance in time to actually be of help in an emergency. Write the BOS at BOS@simsbury-ct.gov if this concerns you. Write us here if you have any questions or helpful information for the effort. Thank You.