Town Council Votes to Oust South Windsor Ambulance Corps

The South Windsor Town Council unanimously decided Monday to reject South Windsor Ambulance Corps as the town’s ambulance service provider, based on years of alleged organizational failures, negligence and the findings of an independent audit into the organization.

The move, which would transfer the contract for both basic and advanced life support services to Ambulance Service of Manchester, was met with anger from the audience. Still, it was a long time coming, councilors said, and whether the decision can even be implemented remains to be seen.

“In 2011, this council brought SWAC before us said ‘How can you have two vehicles servicing a town of 27,000 people with one of your vehicles chronically out of service …and why aren’t you making any effort to upgrade to paramedic service?’’’ Councilor Keith Yagaloff said.

“In Spring of 2012 we asked, ‘Why do you only have two vehicles on the road and significant times you have one vehicle out of service – where are your board of directors, your management team? Why can’t you operate as an ambulance corps that has two vehicles on the road?’

“We got no answers in 2010, no answers in 2011, no answers in 2012… and in 2013 even after this child had died, SWAC was not able to get itself together to get two vehicles on the road to support a town of 27,000 people,” Yagaloff said.

He made his case, as did each of the other Town Council members, to a room filled with EMTs and emergency responders who had shown up year after year to offer care and save lives. 

“You’ve been to my house when my father was sick. I’ve used your services 6-8 times and whenever SWAC came, the staffers provided excellent care… you are excellent, amazing and we are blessed to have you. Thank you for what you have done for so many years,” Mayor Saud Anwar said.

Anwar distinguished between the organization’s leadership, which has failed, he said, and the staff, which has been exemplary. 

He also recognized those who formed South Windsor Ambulance Corps, originally a volunteer organization. And while SWAC has served the town, Anwar said, “along the way things did not go right.”

Yagaloff pointed to leadership failures and a conflict of interest on SWAC’s Board of Directors, which overlaps with its paid executive team, but said there was much more that fueled the council’s decision.

An independent audit of South Windsor Ambulance Corps was done by the former director of the state Office of Emergency Services. The report, which details the organization’s shortcomings and makes recommendations, has not been released to the public, though it has been shared with the Town Council and OEMS. An attorney for SWAC affirmed Monday that the report must be kept confidential and could not be discussed at the meeting.

Liz Pendleton, who named numerous intricate personal and family ties to SWAC, alluded to the report in explaining her support for the measure. 

“There is information that the council has that the public does not have. … our decision tonight in the best interest of the citizens of South Windsor,” she said.

The audience of EMTs did not agree.

One young man in a tie arose in the middle of the council’s discussion and contradicted a council member, saying that AMS would not be able to hire all those who would be laid off if SWAC went out of business.

After the vote the chambers began to empty and a woman shouted from the back, “Great. Now 40 people are out of a job.”

Does it mean they're out of a job? Read this.