Covered Downeast

From everything that has been written recently about the troubles of McGovern Ambulance Services and its closing Dec. 7, one would get the impression that all of Washington County was faced with an ambulance blackout. This is unfortunately true for the eastern end of the county but it is not true for the region from Machias all the way west to the Hancock County line. In western Washington County there are six fully equipped and operating services: Machias (255-3535), Jonesport (497-2385), Beals (497-2385), Pleasant River (483-9774), Cherryfield (546-7890) and Petit Manan (546-7718).

Some of these services are municipally operated, while others are nonprofit corporations. There is an extensive network of mutual aid agreements among the services so that area-wide coverage can be assured.

From my own experience as a driver for Petit Manan Ambulance Service, I know that there is frequent coverage of the Cherryfield service area by Petit Manan and vice-versa. The two services have a unified dispatching service which makes backup automatic.

Pleasant River reports that they are acquiring an ambulance and a transport van to replace McGovern’s frozen assets and that there will be no break in service. I think that it is important to let the citizens of western Washington County know the situation with respect to this region. It is scary to think that an essential service might not be available.

The arrival of Meridian Mobile Health should alleviate problems in the eastern end of the county while long-term solutions are sought. The State of Maine and the Washington County Commissioners will do well to help the towns and unincorporated townships of eastern Washington County find a long-term solution to their ambulance service needs. As for western Washington County, “we gotcha covered”.

Peter Weil

Steuben