Greg Eisenhut saw a high school soccer goalie hit a goal post and fall to the ground with a probable concussion and possible spinal injury two years ago.
An ambulance arrived 50 minutes later, said Eisenhut, board president of Mohawk Valley Ambulance Corps, or MOVAC.
“That made me realize that we have issues here. And before we end up taking people with stroke or heart attack to the hospital in pickup trucks or the family car, we better start to think about emergency medical services as part of the trio of emergency safety,” he said.
Ambulance services face a lot of financial stress that could close agencies and make slow response times more common, Eisenhut warned.
That stress could get worse under a cut proposed in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s executive budget, according to emergency medical services advocates. The cut affects reimbursements for ambulance patients who are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid.