By Christopher Cartwright
The Keene Sentinel
CHESHIRE COUNTY, N.H. — Gilsum, Harrisville, Stoddard and Swanzey have all signed or are negotiating contracts with Cheshire EMS, while the Brattleboro-based Rescue Inc. has announced it is withdrawing from Cheshire County. This ends uncertainty about the immediate future of emergency medical services in those towns, but not broader regional uncertainty as the new county-run Cheshire EMS butts heads with existing agencies.
A letter Drew Hazelton, Rescue Inc.'s chief of operations, sent June 28 to towns his company has served since DiLuzio closed in May states that several of them had notified Rescue Inc. of signing contracts with Cheshire EMS. Rescue Inc. had given communities affected by DiLuzio’s closure a June 30 deadline to decide on an EMS provider. But Hazelton had also signaled that Swanzey’s decision last month to go with Cheshire EMS would make it unlikely Rescue Inc. could continue to serve the other communities.
“Rescue Inc required the full region to maintain a financially viable response model and have explored various alternative strategies, but none of them can sustain the necessary resources to adequately serve the remaining call volume responsibly,” Hazelton wrote in the letter he sent towns last week. “We will reduce our presence in the region responsibly as we expect the timely execution of EMS contracts in the remaining towns over the next week.”
Hazelton added that Rescue Inc. would work with towns to provide a smooth transition if they could not vote on a contract with another EMS provider within the week.
After nearly 72 years in business, the private Keene-based DiLuzio Ambulance Service announced May 2 that it would close the following day, citing the toll the company took on the health of members of the DiLuzio family and the impact it had on their finances.
Rescue Inc., a nonprofit, stepped in to serve towns DiLuzio had served until they could make longer-term plans. Rescue Inc. is also providing EMS backup to the Keene Fire Department, as DiLuzio used to do, and has stationed one ambulance at the Central Station on Vernon Street and one at the West Station on Hastings Avenue.
In addition to Gilsum, Harrisville, Stoddard and Swanzey, towns impacted by DiLuzio’s closure included Marlborough, Richmond and Sullivan, according to a proposal Rescue Inc. provided at a May 23 meeting in Swanzey.
Last Friday, Swanzey announced it was negotiating a three-year contract with Cheshire EMS, with annual costs of $46,865, $67,030 and $81,548. In a news release, Town Administrator Michael Branley thanked Rescue Inc. for its service, but said “the significant cost difference, having Cheshire EMS located in Swanzey, and their operational assets made Cheshire EMS the best option for Swanzey moving forward.”
Rescue Inc.'s proposed contract with Swanzey, attached to the May 23 meeting agenda, would have cost $319,298 for 2023-24 and $322,497 for 2024-25.
Stoddard Town Administrator Michelle Pong told The Sentinel Monday the selectboard there had approved a contract with Cheshire EMS. And Olivia Rodriguez, Gilsum’s selectboard assistant, confirmed members had opted at a meeting June 26 to sign with the county service.
On Monday, Harrisville Administrative Assistant Mary Ann Noyer said that town’s selectboard has also signed a contract with Cheshire EMS.
Marlborough’s town administrator emailed a reporter Wednesday that no contract had been signed yet. And Cheshire County Administrator Chris Coates wrote via email that Sullivan and Richmond were still studying their options, although Cheshire EMS is serving Richmond in the meantime.
Rescue Inc. leaders did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
Competition concerns
In the two months since DiLuzio closed, officials and EMS personnel from affected communities, the county and Rescue Inc. met twice in Swanzey, May 23 and June 21, to discuss plans for EMS coverage moving forward. These meetings highlighted a rift between county representatives and other area officials who feel the county has threatened EMS services in the region by underbidding existing contracts using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
In 2021, Cheshire County reached a deal with DiLuzio to buy the company. Although that deal fell through in April 2022, the county launched Cheshire EMS last November using ARPA funds for equipment and for its new headquarters in Swanzey. The county is also using the funds to lower initial costs for towns, with costs to increase over three years.
“When we walked through the door three years ago, there was a level of crisis that was going on in this community and statewide,” Coates said, of the local EMS landscape and the county’s reason for establishing Cheshire EMS, in Swanzey on May 23. “We felt like at this point we could utilize [the ARPA funds] to help us set up an EMS system ... that could support, not take over, but support and evolve over time.”
Coates added that in 2022, the county had been in talks to be the primary provider for interfacility transfers for Cheshire Medical Center. This contract, which DiLuzio previously held and which the county secured, was “the key to some of our budgeting,” Coates said.
In February, Westmoreland became the first community to contract with Cheshire EMS when it signed a one-year agreement with the county service instead of with the Keene Fire Department, Westmoreland’s previous EMS provider.
As in Swanzey, Cheshire EMS presented a significant cost savings.
The Keene Fire Department offered a one-year contract for $61,000, though said that could be reduced to $54,000 if the department received grant funding, according to Feb. 2 selectboard meeting minutes. The county’s one-year contract cost $8,000 for the first year, and minutes state two subsequent years would cost $9,520 and then $12,800.
Keene firefighters raised concerns about Westmoreland’s shift, with Keene Fire Chief Donald Farquhar telling The Sentinel at the time that “it would have a devastating effect on our budget” if Cheshire EMS took all of the department’s contracts.
At the May 23 meeting in Swanzey, Cheshire EMS Chief Michael Spain said Hillsboro-based Great Brook Ambulance Service was providing backup services for the county.
At the end of that meeting, area officials asked Rescue Inc., the Keene Fire Department, Cheshire EMS and Great Brook to work together to find a way forward.
Talks between these groups led to a proposed cooperative plan between the organizations, Coates and Keene City Manager Elizabeth Dragon said at the second meeting in Swanzey on June 21.
But that plan fell through in early June, with Cheshire County Delegation Chair Dan Eaton saying he was responsible for the county’s withdrawal from the talks.
"[The proposed agreement] basically said a company that doesn’t have any interest in Cheshire County moves in to Cheshire County and takes all the contracts, Keene takes all the other contracts, but Cheshire County, who just invested a whole lot of money ... sits back and waits for backup calls whenever somebody wants to do that,” Eaton, of Stoddard, said June 21.
A few hours after the June 21 meeting, Keene’s local union chapter of the International Association of Firefighters posted a letter between IAFF officials to Facebook stating that, as of June 8, the union had declared Cheshire EMS “a rival to the IAFF.”
In an email to The Sentinel Wednesday, Coates said a meeting between him, Dragon and Fire Chief Farquhar occurred last week.
“It was decided that we would come together again in a few months to continue to look at ways we could possibly support each other,” he wrote.
This article has been updated to reflect that, as of July 6, Swanzey was still negotiating its contract with Cheshire EMS.
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