WINDSOR — A Pembroke, N.H., ambulance service is seeking a license that would allow it to complete inter-facility transfers from hospitals in Vermont including Mt. Ascutney and Springfield.
Chris Rousseau, owner of Great Brook Emergency Medical Services, said Wednesday if the required approvals go through as expected, the service would begin Aug. 1.
A likely location for Great Brook would be in the Lebanon/Hanover area, Roussea said, because Great Brook is currently providing transfers for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Cheshire Medical Center. Some of those transfers could be to a Vermont hospital — but to initiate a transport from Vermont, Great Brook needs licensing from the Vermont Department of Health, he said. Their trucks and emergency medical technicians also will need to be licensed in Vermont.
“Both Springfield and Mount Ascutney are looking for inter-facility transfers,” Rousseau said. “They rely on municipal services now but they are not always available so they reached out to us.”
Great Brook, Rousseau said, does not compete with other ambulance services for municipal 911 contracts. But the company does offer its emergency medical services to organizations that are having events and need an ambulance on site, such as sporting events or company outings.
Great Brook was started in 2010. It has four ambulances and 22 part-time employees. It also provides transfers for Lakes Region Hospital in Laconia, N.H.; Franklin (N.H.) Regional Hospital and Concord Hospital.
Rousseau said his company looks to work closely with municipal and other private ambulance services and not in competition with them.
“We like to have a good working relationship with them. We don’t respond unless we are called,” Rousseau said. “We are more of an assistance” than a first responder.
As an example, he said DiLuzio ambulance in Keene will call “whenever they are in a pinch” and can’t respond to a transport because of other emergencies.
Great Brook also offers health and safety education such as first aid and CPR. Rousseau started that business in 1995.
A message left for Mt. Ascutney Hospital Wednesday was not returned by deadline.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
