By Alison Cross
The Day, New London
PUTNAM, Conn. — At the town’s emergency medical services facility, first responders sleep on couches, soiled linens dry on a clothesline outside, and the refrigerator sits in a bathroom where the shower does double duty as a storage closet.
The former Highway Department building at 191 Church St. has housed the town’s nonprofit ambulance service for the last two decades, but Putnam EMS Administrator Tammy Szpyrka said it became clear years ago that conditions at the facility were no longer optimal after Putnam EMS switched from daytime coverage to 24/7 service.
“They’re definitely not up to industry standards for emergency medical providers,” Town Administrator Elaine Sistare said.
Mayor Barney Seney said the town is advancing a plan to relocate Putnam EMS to the East Putnam Fire District at an estimated rental cost of $122,000 per year. Whether that move will be permanent or temporary is still to be determined.
In recent meetings, the Board of Selectmen authorized $88,000 in federal pandemic relief aid for Putnam EMS’ rent payments. The board also approved a new round of negotiations for the potential purchase of the Providence and Worcester Railroad building at 70 May St. A previous plan to purchase the site was voted down at a special town meeting.
Szpyrka said the current Putnam EMS site lacks adequate space, bunk rooms for night-shift personnel and gender-separated bathrooms for staff.
”The crews that may have had a really busy night might still be sleeping on the couches and just trying to get a few hours in. At 6 o’clock (when it’s time for the next) crew to come in, there’s no time for them to just kind of sleep (while we) do what we need to do without waking them up,” Szpyrka said. “You don’t really rest so much on couches.”
“Our refrigerator is in the bathroom because we don’t have any space for it. ... We don’t have room for a dryer, so we have a clothesline out in the back,” Szpyrka added. “Because of the limited space, we have to keep another ambulance over at the East Putnam Fire Department . ... Right now, technically that ambulance isn’t able to be used, so to speak, if there’s a 911 call that comes into town because (it’s) out there versus here.”
The proposed relocation to the East Putnam Fire District would move Putnam EMS approximately 3 miles east, to 263 Providence Pike. That location is outside Putnam’s special service district, where Szpyrka said 65%-70% of calls for service originate.
Sistare said there is concern that the East Putnam move could slow down ambulance response times.
According to a report shared at Tuesday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, Putnam EMS has maintained an average response rate between 6 and 7.71 minutes from time of tone to arrival. Sistare said standard response times across the nation and state are less than eight minutes.
“If they move to East Putnam, part of the discussion will be (whether) they (will) be able to maintain that response time, or will it add what would be effectively a couple of minutes to their typical call and then push them out of what would be the goal?” Sistare said.
The property under consideration at 70 May St. is in the center of town, approximately a three-minute drive from the current Putnam EMS building.
Seney said the board will not recommend either the East Putnam Fire District or the other property as the permanent home for Putnam EMS until it can evaluate purchase and sales agreements, renovation costs, and the impact on response times.
While Putnam EMS is a private entity, Seney explained that it is ultimately the town’s responsibility to foot the bill.
“State statute requires every town to have a basic life support ... entity within their town, or a private entity to supply basic life support to the citizens of their town,” Seney said.
“The town isn’t in the ambulance service business,” Seney added. “A lot of people don’t understand that ... it’s basically private whether we go with Putnam EMS — which is a private entity that we have a contract with — or we go with another private ambulance service going forward.”
The town is currently contracted to pay Putnam EMS $305,963 for the 2025-26 budget year and $315,142 for the 2026-27 budget year for its services. According to recommendations from an ad hoc committee tasked with exploring options for Putnam EMS facilities, any leasing expenses “would be built into Putnam EMS’ annual cost ... and Putnam EMS would prepare a revised annual cost for consideration” for future budgets.
In August, residents at a special town meeting voted down a plan to purchase the 70 May St. property to house Putnam EMS.
Sistare said residents raised concerns that the site’s proximity to a railroad crossing could delay response times. Additionally, she said there was pushback on the property’s $900,000 price tag. However, Sistare said this was before engineers determined that demolishing and rebuilding the Putnam EMS facility at its current site would cost upward of $6 million.
If the town moves forward with a new recommendation to purchase the property, it would require approval at a special town meeting.
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