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NY Town Shuts Down 75-Year-Old Volunteer Ambulance Corps — Which Says It’s Retaliation

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A New York town is pulling the plug on a volunteer ambulance corps that has been in operation since 1947, citing serious issues — but the corps’ leadership claims the move is in retaliation for lawsuits they’ve filed.

There are no lifelines left for the 75 year-old Ramapo Valley Ambulance Corps. The once vocal sirens silenced, the lights dimmed and the 100-plus volunteers now gone.

”We were cut off without warning,” said RVAC Chairman Mark Stroli. “Why get rid of volunteerism when it’s free and helps the community?”

One of the busiest volunteer ambulance companies in Rockland County filed an explosive lawsuit, alleging that the town of Ramapo is trying to shut them down. Are patients being put in danger? NBC New York’s Sarah Wallace reports.

In reality, it has been a slow bleeding out after years of ongoing battles in Rockland County. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — when they were responding to calls other companies wouldn’t take — RVAC leadership complained the town of Ramapo was making them buy PPE at inflated prices-while failing to give them requested funding.

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In 2021, RVAC filed state and federal lawsuits claiming Ramapo was deliberately freezing them out of dispatch calls.

“We’re here, we’re sitting in the building, waiting for calls to come out. And nothing,” said EMT Twizzler Mercier.

“We were told if we don’t drop the lawsuit, they’re going to shut us down. If we don’t stop speaking to the news, they’re going to shut us down,” said Stroli. “And they have shut us down.”

In a letter to RVAC’s leadership, the town cited critical problems, including missed dispatch calls, delayed response times, poor response rate and multiple “out of service” issues.

“It’s terrible they choose one ambulance corps, attack it in every direction, and keep the ones they like functioning,” said Stroli.

A volunteer ambulance corps is now embroiled in a financial battle with the town of Ramapo over federal funding they say the town never gave or offered to them. The I-Team’s Sarah Wallace reports.

The town said two other ambulance companies will provide emergency medical services to residents in the 35-mile section previously covered by RVAC, the largest area in the county.

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“You have five ambulances that are staffed and ready to go, why would it not be utilized,” Stroli said, calling it “politics at its worst.”

It was unclear at this point what would happen to the building and ambulances, but RVAC’s leadership vowed the legal fight would continue. The town is seeking to have the lawsuits dismissed.

Source: NBC New York

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