As communities across the most rural parts of the nation struggle with adequate emergency medical service, one New York county is taking matters into its own hands by launching its own service.

“The best thing to do was to step up to the plate,” said Montgomery County Executive Matt Ossenfort. “It is very expensive to operate anything that involves transportation in a rural community.”

What You Need To Know

  • The ambulance will be run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and operated by at least two EMTs employed by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office

  • It will supplement the county's current EMS partners, including St. Johnsonville Ambulance, Amsterdam Fire Department and Lake View EMS

  • County Executive Matt Ossenfort said the county has already spent more than $300,000, hopes the state takes on a greater roll in addressing EMS shortfalls

Ossenfort said personnel and other resources are stretched too thin, making efficient response time nearly impossible.

“It is frightening when they call 911 and an ambulance doesn’t come,” said Justin Smith, a sergeant in the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. “That’s what we’re trying to fix.”

Smith has an extensive EMS background. He’ll lead the new Fultonville-based unit, which has been more than two years in the making. It started off with deputy sheriffs being BLS, or basic life support fly cars.

“They were EMTs that were cross-trained as deputy sheriffs,” he explained. “They were going, providing assistance to someone in need until an ambulance could get there.”

The county has taken it a step further, purchasing an ambulance, which was out on back-to-back-to-back calls when Spectrum News 1 visited the county’s Public Safety Facility on Monday. The ambulance will supplement the county’s EMS partners.

“They’ve been doing a phenomenal job with what they’ve been handed,” Smith said. “EMS is in crisis nationwide. It’s not just here in Montgomery County.”

The move has garnered the attention of lawmakers in Albany.

“EMS services really are your front-line of health care,” said state Senator Michelle Hinchey.

She helped create the Rural Ambulance Task Force two years ago to identify the most pressing challenges, which has inspired various legislative efforts, including the “Treatment in Place” bill.

“It changes what services under Medicaid are covered,” Hinchey explained. “And there is a broader package of EMS bills that we are pushing in the Legislature this year, including making EMS an essential service once and for all.”

Having already spent a few hundred thousand dollars on the new EMS service, Ossenfort is hoping the state takes a greater role in addressing EMS shortfalls.

“Right now, we’re going to foot the bill, we’re going to do the right thing,” he said. “But for the next five, 10, 15 years, this is going to be a big issue.”