Lanesborough Eyes Full-Time Ambulance

By Al HartheimerLanesborough News
11:53AM / Tuesday, April 08, 2008Print Story | Email Story

LANESBOROUGH — When you need an ambulance it is very important, sometimes critically important, that an ambulance responds to your call. This is a brief overview and history of ambulance service in Lanesborough.

Prior to Jan. 1, 2008, Lanesborough was serviced during the day and on weekdays by two companies, American Medical Response, a nationwide company, and County Ambulance, a company whose sole business is serving Berkshire County. Evenings and weekends service was provided by the Lanesborough ambulance with volunteer, unpaid emergency medical technicians. There was sufficient service.

On Dec. 31, AMR stopped servicing Berkshire County. Since Jan. 1, the consensus of a number of knowledgable people is that additional service to that provided by County Ambulance is needed during the day. Since then the Lanesborough Ambulance has provided the additional service, funded by the town.

State law requires that an ambulance be staffed by two EMTs. It is not possible in Lanesborough to staff the ambulance full time with volunteers. To staff it with paid EMTs will cost about $65,000 a year. A warrant article to that effect will be offered at the town meeting on Tuesday, May 13.

When the ambulance is used there is a cost for its use. This cost is billed to the client who then bills his insurance company, if he has insurance. It is not known what portion of the annual cost can be recovered in that way.

The Lanesborough Ambulance also bills for its service. Historically, the annual deficit has been about $8,000. This deficit has occurred because some of the people do not have insurance and others simply have not paid.

Comstar, the company that does the billing for the Lanesborough Ambulance, usually bills the client for three or four months and, if there is no response, stops billing. Consideration is now being given to other methods of collection, such as using a collection agency or going to small claims court. No decision has been reached regarding this.

Information provided by Lanesborough Concerned Citizens Newsletter. Harheimer credits Fire Chief Charlie Durfee for giving him lots of help with the ambulance history. To receive the weekly newsletter with more Lanesborough news, e-mail ahartheimer@yahoo.com.

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Your Comments

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When will the truth really be told??? Prior to Jan 1, 2008 AMR rarely if ever responded to calls in Lanesborough, County Ambulance had been primary back up for many years. Lanesborough Ambulance has always been the primary provider of ambulance service for Lanesborough, day, evening, night, weekend. County Ambulance provided frequent primary backup service to Lanesborough due to Lanesborough having problems getting volunteers to respond. The so called knowledgeable people who state additional service is needed since the departure of AMR have no knowledge. The facts are County Ambulance has provided service that is better than prior to Jan 1, 2008 due to better deployment of resources. Response time is better. How many times has backup by County Ambulance to Lanesborough been unavailable since Jan 1, 2008? 0 times County Ambulance responds to as many calls after 4 pm as they do during the day so this full time plan only will be for the daytime so County will still need to respond after 4 pm until 8 am. County Ambulance will still respond much of the time full time crew or not to provide paramedic intercept service not available from Lanesborough Ambulance. $ 15,000 in personnel costs for the first 3 months will not be covered even 50% by the patient billings done. And yes the ambulance can tell you what they will recoup in annual billings by looking at their historical data but it will certainly be well below the cost of providing the service. The fact is the problem is with a lack of volunteers in Lanesborough, not a lack of outside resources. Truth should be at the forefront of this campaign; we taxpayers deserve to hear the truth. We should decide if we are willing to shoulder the cost of hiring full time EMTs who eventually will be costing us disabilities, benefits, retirement, etc for a mere 8 hours a day coverage without the scare tactics. The truth will set you free!
from: Concerned taxpayer	on: 04-08-2008 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

"The truth will set you free!" Indeed. The TRUTH is, you are thinking with your wallet instead of your common sense. How much is the money you saved- mere dollars per year- going to be worth to you as you watch your husband/wife/grandparent/son/daughter/sister/brother/friend turn blue on the floor in front of you? Money over safety- it's the American way! The people of Lanesborough are demonstrating that they have no more concern for public safety than ValueJet!
from: EMT	on: 04-08-2008 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

County Ambulance is manned by a bunch of Slugs. They know little about Emergency Medical Care and are to weak to lift stretchers. Lanesborough should hire fulltime EMT's. Yours or your loved ones life may depend on it!
from: Byran McAndrews	on: 04-09-2008 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Lanesborough to Negotiate New HCA With Only Dispensary

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
12:06PM / Monday, March 03, 2025

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. Due to evolving state regulations, the town must settle on a new or amended host community agreement with its only dispensary.

On Monday, Feb. 24, the Select Board voted to allow Town Administrator Gina Dario to work with counsel towards a resolution. Dario felt that both parties were willing to come up with a practical solution.

Liberty Market, located on North Main Street, has requested a new host community agreement or host community agreement waiver in lieu thereof. The town was sent a notice of non-compliance from the Cannabis Control Commission in January.

"The discussion for the Select Board is whether or not to proceed with either a redrafting of the current host community agreement or a re-negotiation of a new host community agreement that uses a more prescriptive template that is being provided by The Cannabis Control Commission," Dario explained.

A couple of years ago, the Canabis Control Commission (CCC) approved changes to the state's adult and medical use regulations including policies that implement the agency's oversight of host community agreements, new equity requirements, and suitability reform.

"The Cannabis Control Commission is taking the position that changes to the cannabis laws which went into effect in November of 2022 are retroactive and affect pre-existing agreements, such as the one that the town has with Liberty Market," Attorney Nicole Costanzo said.

"Of course, there are some novel legal issues presented as to whether or not the legislative changes do retroactively affect pre-existing host community agreements. It's my understanding that the town does want to work with Liberty Market nevertheless and try and get them a "compliant" agreement for purposes of the Cannabis Control Commission issuing them a license renewal to move forward."

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