EMS provider to stop providing services in Webster
WEBSTER, N.Y. — The current EMS provider in Webster says in 90 days it will stop providing services in the town.
The decision is the result of a bitter, years-long battle between Northeast Quadrant Advanced Life Support and the town of Webster, over money.
There have been dozens of meetings between the two sides. And while the CEO says he’s still willing to have conversations with the Webster Town Board, unless the town comes up with more money, they’ll stop providing services early next year.
Between now and then, Northeast Quadrant Advanced Life Support says it will have to adjust staffing to what it calls a “fiscally responsible” level.
“Well the answer is we don’t know. We’ll see what tomorrow brings. As you saw there is a lot of emotion out there. This is a terrible time of year to do. We’d practically done it last week. But the board made a decision to wait until after the Christmas holiday but we can’t forever, right. There is never a good time to wait to do something this ugly. As we said earlier. This is not a negotiation. This is a reality. We are running out of money. We are not going to be in position to where we can’t pay our staff so we need to give time for the town to do something reasonable or find a safe place for our staff to land,” said NEQALS president Syed Ahmed Mustafa.
The town says NEQALS has been unresponsive to the town over the last two years. It also mentions a “lack of business plan” as one of the reasons the Town Board did not consider emergency funding.
The next Webster Town Board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 4.