Ambulance service study set> More volunteers needed for corps at Baileyville

BAILEYVILLE — Rather than roll over and lose its ambulance service, residents have formed a committee to look at the changing dynamics of the volunteer program and how it fits the needs of the community.

Members of the ambulance corps were at the town council meeting Monday night, and it was clear from their comments that they supported the formation of a committee to set priorities.

Among the issues discussed was the need for more trained volunteers to provide 24-hour coverage, appropriate training, adequate training facilities, modern equipment, better communication between the ambulance corps and dispatchers and more cooperation between the ambulance corps and the community.

Phyllis Greenlaw, president of the Baileyville Volunteer Ambulance Corps., said there were a number of volunteers who were willing to take the training course.

“That has been an issue, that we don’t have enough volunteers. Volunteers are not as plentiful as they used to be years ago. People work because they have to work a full-time job. We are in hopes of teaching a course. We have people signed up now who have committed themselves to taking the course and the town will pay that up front,” she said.

Greenlaw said there are eight volunteer attendants and five designated drivers in the ambulance corps. “I would like to see a minimum of 12 to 15 volunteers,” she said.

She said people in Baileyville did not want to lose their local service, and she was optimistic that the new recruits would keep the corps a volunteer service.

There has been a discussion during the past few months about whether the town should have its own dispatching service. Town Council Chairman Doug Jones said he believed the cost for the town’s own dispatching service would be prohibitive.

For many years the Georgia-Pacific Corp. provided dispatch services for the town. Early this year the town switched to the Washington County Sheriff’s Department’s dispatch service when G-P officials announced that because of possible liability it no longer wanted to provide municipal dispatch service.

Jones noted that Lubec had had its own dispatch service, but got into trouble over wage and work-hour issues. “But maybe if somebody volunteered and was willing to enter into some kind of contract with the town, someone who was disabled or something like that could handle it,” he said.

Greenlaw said that because the county eventually would provide an Enhanced-911 service, it would be illogical for the town to spend money on a system that could be obsolete in a few years.

Town Manager Jack Clukey suggested that the committee represent a cross-section of the community and include members of the ambulance corps, senior citizens, council members and a representative from G-P, the town’s largest employer. The councilors agreed to review the names of volunteers for the committee at their next meeting.