Ulster County community leaders are teaming up to try to fix an emergency medical services system that one official said is “on the brink of collapse.”

The EMS task force, formed by County Executive Pat Ryan, met for the first time Monday evening. The group, which includes elected officials, EMS industry experts and EMS personnel, will review the current system and develop solutions to improve services in rural communities.

There was agreement Monday among task force members and EMS workers that services in those more removed communities were lacking.

Because of low funding levels and staff shortages, the New Paltz Rescue Squad has become more of a regional service than one just meant for the New Paltz area. 

Assistant Chief Rich McNamee said Monday that other nonprofit and commercial EMS providers no longer have the staff and resources to respond quickly in rural communities.

“The whole of the entire Hudson Valley system is under stress,” McNamee said.

The New Paltz squad is different from many others in neighboring communities because it has some paid staff and receives some municipal funding. McNamee said that until the pandemic hit, about six percent of the squad’s calls were mutual aid in another service area.

Today, mutual aid requests make up for well over 20% of the squad’s calls. McNamee said commercial EMS providers would typically serve certain pockets of the county, but cannot assist as much, nor as quickly, as before due to their own staffing shortages.

“Those are some of the companies that would usually come in and help our neighboring communities, but they’re having a hard time,” McNamee said. “We’re covering down on calls that normally we wouldn’t have.”

Most of the mutual aid calls have come from the southern part of the county, McNamee said, in Plattekill, Gardiner and Shawangunk.

District 13 County Legislator Ken Ronk Jr., who is also the Wallkill Ambulance corps captain, agreed EMS service is insufficient in communities that are far from both hospitals and staffed EMS units.

Ronk wants to see more resources from municipalities — and especially the state — go to local EMS services that have been hurt by inflation, pandemic-related expenses and a shortage of volunteers.

Ronk said he also wants the task force to push state lawmakers to drastically increase incentives to join local EMS squads.

“…Really just trying to get the county executive to use his bully pulpit to lobby our state representatives,” Ronk said when reached by phone Monday. “That’s really what we need. We need to do the advocacy, and I plan to.”

Ulster County EMS Coordinator Richard Muellerleile said ahead of Monday’s meeting he wants the group to come up with new ways to bring back volunteers who distanced themselves from their units because of concerns over COVID-19.

“Staffing issues are going to get worse before they get better,” Muellerleile said.