The Board of Selectmen at a January 23 Special Meeting voted to enter into a temporary contract with K&B Ambulance of Killingly to provide emergency services to Hampton residents. The contract will begin on February 1 and end on June 30, providing a “test period” for the Selectmen and our first responders to evaluate the service. Though the actual contract was not presented at the meeting, the terms were discussed and include a cost of $30 per call for the duration of the contract, with the ambulance housed in Killingly for the first 60 days, and in Pomfret for the remaining three months.

The subject of emergency services has caused anxiety ever since September of 2019, when Ben Brocket, Chief of the Hampton-Chaplin Ambulance Corps, informed the Selectmen of the two towns that the organization would cease operations in April 1, 2020, ending six decades of volunteer service. In a statement released in December, First Selectman Allan Cahill announced that he had been researching both municipal and private ambulance services, as well as the possibility of forming regional partnerships with area towns facing the same decline in volunteer services. “In the next months I see a collaborative of four to six towns sharing the benefits and costs of supporting a 24/7 professional Emergency Medical Service with one to two ambulance crews on call,” he reported.

But “state compliance issues”, which Cahill was reluctant to publicly discuss, forced a quicker decision. Immediately after the meeting adjourned, Cahill sent a communication to the Connecticut Department of Public Health Office of Emergency Medical Services stating “it is the intent of the Hampton-Chaplin Ambulance Corps to cease BLS emergency transport service for the town of Hampton in the State of Connecticut as of January 31, 2020 midnight. Hampton will willingly relinquish the PSAR to the state for reassignment. The New Contractor K&B Ambulance will be reassigned to them by the State.”

Fire Department Deputy Chief Rich Schenk, who was in attendance at the meeting and had discussed the decision with Cahill, said that our local EMTs and EMRs will still respond to the calls in town, with an equipped service truck, and a paramedic from Windham Hospital will still be automatically sent for certain calls. “Transport is the only change,” Cahill said.

Board of Finance Vice-Chairman Kathy Donahue, who was also in attendance, provided information on a plan Scotland is in the process of developing which could include Hampton. Cahill said that Scotland’s proposal would also be considered once it is received. A hearing will be held for public review before a permanent arrangement is made, he said.

Though there were only four other citizens in attendance at the January 23 meeting, approximately 80 people attended a town meeting on December 23 to discuss the future of emergency services. Some speakers shared personal health concerns and fears, and most of those who spoke agreed that response time, particularly in light of our significant elderly population, was more important to them than costs.