The town of Ramapo announced Tuesday it will no longer send 911 calls to the Ramapo Valley Ambulance Service.
The announcement followed years of disagreement between volunteer organization leaders and the town over finances and service response times.
“After giving them a chance to fix the problem, we had no choice but to stop sending them through the town’s 911 emergency call system,” said Ramapo City Supervisor Michael Spect.
The Spring Hill Community Emergency Service in Spring Valley and the William P. Feist Volunteer Emergency Service in Chestnut Ridge work together to respond to the town’s emergency calls.
“We are delighted to serve the residents of both Hilburn and Slaughtsburg today. Trust,” wrote Spring Hill Community Ambulance Corps Chief Ephriam Tauber.
“It is our privilege to continue to serve our fellow residents by providing advanced care and rapid response to additional areas of the town of Ramapo.Once received, care is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are ready for the day,” wrote Lisa Goldberg, director of the William P. Feist Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
Specht said the decision to sever ties with RVAC resulted in missed dispatch calls, slow response times, failure to cooperate on financial reports, and a lack of effort to remediate outstanding issues. Stated.
“The only thing we considered in this decision was the lapse of service and our inability to fix it. The lawsuit had nothing to do with it,” Speccht said.
The Corps had previously filed a lawsuit against the town, alleging it took steps to put the organization out of business by diverting 911 calls elsewhere and withholding critical funds. denies this claim.
Specht added that the ongoing lawsuit has nothing to do with Tuesday’s decision.
A lawyer representing RVAC’s leadership has not yet responded to News 12’s request for comment.
“The town has done a lot of wrongdoing to the RVAC, but there are many flaws in the RVAC leadership itself,” said Izzie Landau, a 20-year member of the Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps.
Landau worries about the impact this decision will have on the provision of emergency services to the town.
“Members take a little longer to reach the building, which delays response times,” says Landau.
Ultimately, Landau is partly responsible for RVAC leadership making unilateral decisions and keeping volunteers secret.
“A lot of people left. A lot of people were being kicked out for the wrong reasons because they didn’t agree with the views of their leaders.”
Specht said the town board is now trying to find satellite locations to house ambulances near where the RVAC used to be to reduce response time to those residents.
RVAC leaders have not yet responded to News 12’s request for comment.