A Call for 24-Hour Medics

The Montauk Fire District’s board of commissioners faced a full house, including many of the hamlet’s older residents, when it met on Tuesday evening. The crowd showed up to ask the commissioners to extend their paid-paramedic program from 12 hours a day to full-time coverage.

The program, instituted to provide faster response, began in June 2013 and expired in September of that year. It was so successful that the ambulance squad petitioned the commissioners to extend it, which they did, but only on the part-time basis.

This past June, the paid paramedics were brought back to provide round-the-clock coverage through September. Because so many people stayed in the hamlet after Labor Day, the program was extended through October, when it reverted to 12 hours a day, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The commissioners told Tuesday’s audience that the department’s volunteer emergency medical technicians were highly trained and on duty at night until 6 a.m. daily. “We have the best trained E.M.T.s in the county,” said Carmine Marino, a commissioner. “Others say they look forward to working with our E.M.T.s. There should be no fear from the community; you have some of the best to take care of you.”

Joe Dryer, chairman of the board of commissioners, told the crowd that when the Montauk department hired paramedics, Amagansett followed. “They realized that was the way to go,” he said, noting, however, that Amagansett does not have enough volunteers to offer full-time voluntary service. That, he said, was why they continue to have full-time paramedic coverage.

“We feel our squads can handle it,” he said.

Amagansett’s professionals provide mutual aid to Montauk, said Mr. Dryer. But audience members said time was of the essence, and driving to Amagansett to pick up a professional would waste too much time when someone might be having a heart attack or a stroke.

One person asked why renovating the room they were sitting in was taking precedence over the paid paramedic program. Mr. Marino, who is in charge of buildings and maintenance, said money for the renovation was in a dedicated fund to be used only on the structure. Pointing out a stained and warped ceiling, he said, “This room hasn’t been renovated for 35 years. Would you let your house go without work for 35 years?”

Mr. Dryer reminded the group that public budget hearings were held in July, August, and September. He said no one comes. “That’s when you should show up,” he said.

Several in the crowd mentioned that Dr. Anthony Knott is leaving the Montauk Medical Center at the end of this month, and so far has not been replaced. Full-time medical coverage is needed more than ever now, they said.

Jay Levine, a Montauk resident who is on Southampton Hospital’s board of directors, read out a letter from Robert S. Chaloner, the hospital’s president and C.E.O., supporting full-time paramedics and advanced E.M.T.s in Montauk “in furtherance of our mutual mission of providing the best clinical care, in a timely matter, to our residents and visitors.”

The letter stated that the hospital has observed firsthand the positive benefits of round the clock paramedic and critical-care coverage in the surrounding districts. It said that paid medical professionals on staff are in the best interest of communities.

Charles Morici said he had been a volunteer with the Montauk Fire Department for 45 years. He stood and bluntly told the commissioners that “it has to be 24 hours a day.”

Initially, the commissioners seemed to be on the defensive, saying they had not yet found the need for full-time coverage. Near the meeting’s end, however, they said they would take a closer look and see if there were any places to tweak the budget.

“Over the years we’ve taken good care of this community. We’re all on the same page here, so be assured we are going to move forward on this,” said Mr. Dryer.

Alan Burke, the captain of the ambulance squad, said in a phone conversation that he had been with the department for 40 years and did not see the need for nightly paid assistance. Volunteers, he said, can handle the hamlet’s medical needs. He also remarked that if paramedics are hired on a full-time basis, taxes would increase.

“I don’t think the need is there yet — yet,” he stressed, adding that as the community expands, so will the program.