https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2026/01/medford-signs-contract-with-cataldo-ambulance-service-ends-25-year-deal-with-armstrong-ambulance
Medford signs contract with Cataldo Ambulance Service, ending 25-year deal with Armstrong Ambulance Residents, Armstrong’s union and city council voiced concern over how the change was communicated. Lungo-Koehn noted that mutual aid — which require emergency services to assist neighboring communities — often resulted in Armstrong ambulances being dispatched outside Medford, stretching local resources thin. ========================= lets explain how ems works in arlington and medford medford - 6 fire stations plus 1 Armstrong ambulance station arlington - 3 fire stations plus 1 Armstrong ambulance station The first ambulance call in Medford is handled by one Medford fire truck and 1 Armstrong ambulance The second ambulance call in Medford is handled by a second Medford fire truck and the 2nd Armstrong ambulance. 3rd ambulance call at roughly the same time is handled by 1 medford fire truck and a armstrong ambulance from medford or arlington or stoneham for arlington first ambulance call is handled by 1 arlington fire truck and 1 arlington fire ambulance and sometimes 1 Armstrong ambulance from Arlington. the 2nd ambulance call in arlington is handled by 1 arlington fire truck and maybe 1 ambulance from armstrong or pro or belmont or winchester or lexington the 3rd ambulance call in arlington is handled by 1 arlington fire truck and an ambulance from gawd knows where (note we are skipping over the difference between ALS and BLS here - but the basic explanation is sound / firm / based / acid / whatevere) The major problem recently is that armstrong never seems to have a 2nd ambulance available in arlington on the weekends - so the 2nd ambulance usually ends up being an Armstrong ambulance from medford so that 2nd arlington patient gets screwed waiting for a very late ambulance to show up - and apparently people have been getting screwed in Medford also due to slow ambulances (that are over in arlington chasing calls) keep in mind - whoever transports the patient to the hospital gets approx $500 from Medicare / Medicaid / health insurance companys Perhaps the root of the current problem is the basic understanding of mutual aid - it has to be mutual - if arlington spends 100 hours in Medford every month covering fire calls - then it should be reasonable to expect Medford to spend 100 hours in Arlington covering ambulance calls - but it needs to be balanced - (maybe its a little unequal in this example since an ambulance has a crew of 2 people - and a fire truck has a crew of 3 people - so the manhours are different) capiche? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "massfire" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/massfire/CAFXWwKb8mBiA33BSnyzjByX25XXOx1BP7EGMAaq7hhtr5B4W-A%40mail.gmail.com.
