Dutchess County Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Citizen’s Advisory Committee to Conduct Public Survey
Poughkeepsie… The Dutchess County Citizens Advisory Committee for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is conducting a public survey as part of ongoing efforts to increase community awareness of EMS in the county and identify long-term solutions. The survey is the next step in Dutchess County Government’s ongoing efforts to address the emergency services needs of residents throughout the county, educate the public on the importance of EMS, and recruit volunteers. The survey, which is available online through February 28, 2020, asks questions about residents’ experiences with and knowledge of EMS in their municipality.
County Executive Marc Molinaro said, “While EMS is not a mandated service and receives no State funding, it is an expected and relied upon public service and, without effective collaboration, there is too much variation in the delivery of that service between municipalities. I encourage residents to take this survey to help us identify opportunities to standardize care and improve this life-saving service for all. I thank the Citizen’s Advisory Committee for EMS for their continued efforts to educate the community and their commitment to helping build a reliable, patient-centered, affordable, and sustainable EMS system in Dutchess.”
The Citizen’s Advisory Committee for EMS (formerly the Dutchess County EMS Task Force) is exploring possible opportunities for improvement to EMS and the need for and potential establishment of an EMS Authority in Dutchess. Results from the public survey will help measure the community’s knowledge and expectations for the delivery of EMS and will offer insight on possible education efforts that may be needed, additional areas for service enhancement, and the committee’s future recommendations to local leaders. Learn more about the committee.
Recent efforts to improve EMS in the county include creating a consolidated EMS contract for the towns of Amenia, Dover, and North East located in northeastern Dutchess County. Through a collaborative process, this shared service will reduce the cost to the municipalities as well as improve the consistency of service and reducing response times for residents.
County Executive Molinaro’s 2020 budget proposal includes funding to develop a consolidated 24/7 volunteer schedule in northwest Dutchess County and support for increased outreach to local colleges and high schools to incentivize volunteering. Additional funding is also included to purchase cloud-based notification and information sharing software to provide emergency service agencies, first responders, and law enforcement with timely and accurate response updates, building and emergency response plans, and will result in cost savings for local agencies. The 2020 Executive Budget documents are available online at dutchessny.gov/2020budget.
Take the survey from the Dutchess County Citizen’s Advisory Committee for EMS.
