The Schoharie County Ambulance & Rescue Squad Association's (SCARSA) October shutdown as a New York State Department of Health certified training center for EMT's has spurred the emergency responders to launch a petition directed to the State Department of Health's Bureau of EMS overseer for their case, Andrew G. Johnson, to reconsider his previous decision of non-renewal and reinstate SCARSA's certification.
According to Karen Cuccinello, SCARSA President and volunteer EMT for 25 years, despite numerous attempts to contact Mr. Johnson from mid-October until now there has been not one successful interaction between her organization and his office, with the exception being a brief discussion on November 3rd, 2013 when Mr. Johnson turned down a meeting request and instead directed SCARSA to e-mail him their official objections - which have not been answered in a month's time.
Meanwhile, the status of local EMT's seeking re-certification and residents looking to take new classes in the program are waiting for more information, which SCARSA cannot give them a hint of at this time because of the complete breakdown of communications between their training facility and the Bureau of EMS, which has left SUNY Cobleskill as the only functioning training site in the entire county.
The petition, which simply states: "Dear Andrew G. Johnson, HPA-2, NYS Dept. of Health, Bureau of EMS: Please reinstate Schoharie County Ambulance & Rescue Squad Association (SCARSA) as a training center!," has received 135 signatures as of midnight December 4th and is within striking distance of its goal of two-hundred signatories.
According to Karen Cuccinello, SCARSA President and volunteer EMT for 25 years, despite numerous attempts to contact Mr. Johnson from mid-October until now there has been not one successful interaction between her organization and his office, with the exception being a brief discussion on November 3rd, 2013 when Mr. Johnson turned down a meeting request and instead directed SCARSA to e-mail him their official objections - which have not been answered in a month's time.
Meanwhile, the status of local EMT's seeking re-certification and residents looking to take new classes in the program are waiting for more information, which SCARSA cannot give them a hint of at this time because of the complete breakdown of communications between their training facility and the Bureau of EMS, which has left SUNY Cobleskill as the only functioning training site in the entire county.
The petition, which simply states: "Dear Andrew G. Johnson, HPA-2, NYS Dept. of Health, Bureau of EMS: Please reinstate Schoharie County Ambulance & Rescue Squad Association (SCARSA) as a training center!," has received 135 signatures as of midnight December 4th and is within striking distance of its goal of two-hundred signatories.
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