News & Announcements

EMS Admin Group Salutes SEMS Providers

The Saratoga County EMS Administrators Council, a group representing the Administrators of the larger ambulance services in the County issued an open letter saluting the EMS professionals working for Saratoga Emergency Medical Services (SEMS). On Friday, February 17th at 06:00 am, SEMS will cease operations. Click here for a copy of the letter.

Congratulations Dr. Pomeroy!

Dr. Greer Pomeroy, who retired last year after serving over 40 years in various EMS leadership positions including more than 20 years tenure as Saratoga County EMS Medical Director, was honored October 14th at the REMO 2009 EMS Awards Ceremony held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Albany. Dr. Pomeroy was named EMS Physician of Excellence for her many contributions in the Region. Also recognized was Deb Kufs (EMS Educator of Excellence), Brian Sleurs (Communication Specialist of the Year), David DeRossi (RN of Excellence), Colonie EMS (Agency of the Year), and Columbia County EMS Coordinator PJ Keeler (EMS Leadership Award). Kudos to all.

Older Pagers Not Compatible with New Alerting System

Within the next few months, Saratoga County will go live with a simulcast EMS and Fire paging system on 155.925 MHz. While designed to dramatically boost reception, the new system will operate under new FCC narrow band licensing requirements causing older pagers to no longer function. All services are once again reminded to verify that all EMS and Fire pagers are narrowband capable prior to the end of 2010. A simple rule of thumb for Motorola pagers is to look at the front of the pager. Minitor V pagers are narrowband capable, all other models are NOT and will not work once the simulcast system goes live. Additionally, the Saratoga County Motorola pager purchasing contract expires on 12/31/10. Any agency needing to purchase replacements is strongly encouraged to take advantage of this rock-bottom pricing before the contract expires.

Nightly EMS Pager Test Format Change

Effective July 7, 2010, the nightly (18:00) EMS pager test will be abbreviated to only four agencies: Providence, Edinburg, Stillwater, and General Schuyler. This resulted from a survey of EMS Administrators and Chief Officers conducted last month, subsequently released for commentary by all Saratoga County EMS providers during June. The change is being made because the majority of Corps receive enough pages during the course of each day to not require daily testing. Contact EMS Coordinator Mike McEvoy with any questions (mcevoymike@aol.com).