NORWICH – Aside from the gap in coverage created when Superior Ambulance pulled out of Chenango County, Cooperstown Medical Transport (CMT) also plans to fill the one-time EMS provider’s old space, too.
Margaret McGowan, CMT’s chief financial officer, confirmed Friday that her company has rented Superior’s Norwich station on East River Road near Woods Corners.
CMT expects to move into Superior’s garage shortly after Jan. 1; however, ambulances can’t start running full-time from that location until the building receives regulatory approval from the state Department of Health, said McGowan. That review could take several weeks or longer.
“We wanted approval yesterday,” McGowan said. “But this is just how the system works.”
CMT squads covering Chenango County are currently operating out of Sidney and Oneonta using a temporary emergency permit.
The company expects to be recommended for a permanent “Certificate of Need” (CON) – a permit all emergency services providers must have in order to legally expand their coverage into a jurisdiction – by the Southern Tier Regional EMS council in Binghamton Jan. 10. Based on that recommendation, the state Department of Health would then have 30 days to issue or deny the CON.
“I don’t see any reason why we won’t receive the certificate,” said McGowan. “There has been nothing negative said about us coming here, at least not that I know of.”
The permanent certificate is issued separately from the awaited building and equipment approvals.
McGowan also said she plans to meet with officials at the county emergency center after the new year to map out a dispatch protocol.
“We need to talk about communications,” said McGowan. “We need to figure out how CMT is going to be dispatched by the county communications center.”
The county dispatch essentially dictates what and how many 911 calls CMT gets, McGowan said, and that weighs heavily on the success or failure of a private ambulance.
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