VAAS

With Voorheesville Area Ambulance Service seeking to merge with Delmar-Bethlehem EMS or face dissolution, a question still remains on what will happen to its former headquarters.

A lack of volunteers had led Voorheesville's ambulance to announce its closure, but members continue to respond as a secondary service, and the organization is seeking a way to keep running.

As Voorheesville Area Ambulance Service looks to close its doors on Oct. 15, the town is requesting that Albany County Sheriff’s EMS division expand its services to a 24/7 operation to cover VAAS’s former district.

The EMS squad had made the decision because the squad lacked the volunteers it needs to service the community.

The village of Voorheesville's ambulance has 15 members, which First Lieutenant Tom Smith describes as an “older crowd,” some of whom have volunteered for 25 to 30 years.

The paid staff of E5 will supplement ambulance volunteers in Voorheesville as needed, particularly during daytime hours, when fewer volunteers are available.

The Voorheesville Village Board has stayed under the state levy limit since it was enacted, and hopes to again, but has passed a law to exceed the cap — just in case.

After months of increasingly bitter disputes, the village and Voorheesville Area Ambulance Service, on the cusp of a new contract, are working together to resolve differences.

VOORHEESVILLE — After a long and bitter dispute, the village board said Tuesday that it will let the contract with the Voorheesville Area Ambulance Squad quietly expire on Dec. 31 so that it can begin using a different rescue service.

The Voorheesville Fire Department declined to take over ambulance duties — a relief for contentions between the village board and the ambulance squad, which says Mayor Conway's statement about the situation in the village newsletter was incorrect.

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