Wethersfield, CT, EMS Agency Fighting to Continue Responding

A bitter, year-and-a-half-long dispute over ambulance service appears closer to ending now that state regulators have tentatively concluded Aetna Ambulance would provide as good or even better service than the local nonprofit operator.

In a proposed decision, a state Department of Public Health staffer rejected arguments by the Wethersfield Emergency Medical Services Association that it would consistently provide more reliable service than Aetna.

That was a significant blow to the 68-year-old community organization, which has been fighting to keep its role as Wethersfield’s primary ambulance service. The conflict has led both sides to warn that lives are at stake if the wrong decision is made.

After a hearing that stretched for months over 23 separate sessions, Kenneth Hansted of the state public health department this month sided with town officials and Aetna.

“The town has demonstrated that Aetna’s resources, experience, staffing, quality control, and relationship with its sponsor hospital would at least maintain, if not improve, patient care in Wethersfield,” Hansted wrote in his proposed decision.

If there’s no appeal, state Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani could issue a final decision in the matter as early as June 28. But WEMSA has announced it is going to keep fighting.

“We intend to appeal,” Chief Dennis McMahon told the town council. “It is not appropriate for the town to hide behind the state and let them make the decision about EMS. This is a town decision that should be solved by the town. The EMS system we currently have in place works.”

Town Manager Frederick Presley gave a very different perspective, telling the council “A lot of the comments made by the chief tonight were blatant misrepresentations.”

For years, WEMSA had held the rights to be Wethersfield’s primary emergency medical provider, even though it didn’t have paramedics trained in advanced life support.

Instead, WEMSA’s emergency medical technicians were trained to handle basic emergency calls; they were volunteers and the service handled 911 calls on a part-time basis. Under a contract, Aetna sent paramedics to all of the most serious, life-threatening emergencies, and also handled the routine calls when WEMSA wasn’t available.

Then two years ago, WEMSA began paying some of its ambulance crews and began taking a far bigger percentage of emergency calls. Aetna balked, and WEMSA at the very end of 2023 announced it had a new plan for Wethersfield emergencies: Its ambulances would handle all basic calls in town on a full-time basis, the East Windsor Ambulance Association would respond to the more severe calls, and Aetna would be out.

Presley said WEMSA never talked with the town about that model, and wouldn’t meet to negotiate renewing the contract with Aetna. Because WEMSA holds the state designation as primary ambulance service, Presley couldn’t simply replace the organization with Aetna or another provider, instead, he called on the state public health department to step in, and also asked Aetna to continue answering critical care calls in the meantime.

The town has proposed designating Aetna as its ambulance provider; WEMSA has cautioned that this would risk slower responses and higher expenses.

“Our response times have been great. Without us the response times are only going to get worse,” McMahon told the council. “We have three ambulances in town dedicated solely to Wethersfield. they have only one, often coming from outside Wethersfield. Our elderly and disabled citizens deserve prompt emergency care when they need it, not five minutes later.”

But Aetna and town officials contend that with a computer-dispatched system and a fleet of more than 20 ambulances for the region, Aetna can provide fast and reliable service — and perform  better in a mass casualty emergency.

“Aetna has frequently provided three, four, five as many as six ambulances with paramedics to accident scenes and emergencies in town. The plan (from WEMSA) had no accountability for that kind of emergency,” Presley said. “We have the Silas Deane, the Berlin Turnpike and I-91 running through our town. Those accidents are not jokes; we had to take this very seriously.

“This is not about personalities or money, it’s really about life or death,” said Presley, who added that the fire and police chiefs also want Aetna rather than WEMSA.

Numerous WEMSA supporters spoke passionately in defense of the organization, with some telling of severe emergencies where Aetna had no ambulance nearby and WEMSA saved the victim’s life. Presley replied that he’d heard from people with opposite accounts.

After the 23-session hearing that continued from mid-2004 until this spring, Hansted agreed.

“Aetna has more resources available to serve Wethersfield, thereby allowing it to maintain, if not improve, patient care,” he wrote in his proposed decision.

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