Jenni Belotserkovsky and Hojun Choi
MARSHFIELD — The Marshfield Selectboard expressed dissatisfaction and raised concerns at its May 5 meeting about the emergency medical services the town pays for.
The central Vermont town receives its paramedic and ambulance services through a contract with the East Montpelier Fire Department, which as of early May, did not have a paramedic on staff.
“It seems like we’re paying you for a service, and there are questions regarding whether you can even fulfill that service right now,” Marshfield Selectboard member Luke Lampugnale said, addressing Darryl Garland, president of the East Montpelier Fire Department.
Garland, who attended the meeting, confirmed the hole in staffing and told the Marshfield Selectboard that the department is struggling with a general lack of paramedics in the region amid a rising volume of emergency calls in the area.
While acknowledging those headwinds, Marshfield town officials said they were alarmed by multiple cases of poor service from East Montpelier emergency medical service personnel this year.
Marshfield Volunteer Fire Department Chief Will Schwarz, who also spoke at the May 5 meeting, recounted a call in April to a motorcycle crash on U.S. Route 2 during which the East Montpelier department canceled a request for a paramedic from Marshfield firefighters who were at the scene.
The driver of the motorcycle sustained multiple severe injuries that called for a paramedic, Schwarz said.
“If you had seen the guy’s helmet, you would have gasped, alright?” he added.
Seeing a clear need to transport the patient with a helicopter — a call that often requires a responding paramedic — Marshfield firefighters requested help from the East Montpelier Fire Department, Schwarz told selectboard members.
An East Montpelier department crew chief called off the request, Schwarz said, describing the decision as “completely unacceptable.”
“What you’re saying is, ‘You guys on scene don’t know what you’re doing,’” Schwarz said.
The patient, who was eventually taken to the hospital, has undergone at least nine surgeries following the crash, Schwarz said.
Schwarz said he thinks the East Montpelier Fire Department has room to make improvements to avoid a similar breakdown of ambulance services in the future.
“It was a bad mistake,” Schwarz said. “It wasn’t the first time this happened.”
Records obtained by The Bridge showed that a Marshfield resident in January submitted a complaint to Vermont EMS District 6 related to “a delay in care and unprofessional conduct” from East Montpelier Fire Department ambulance personnel. The district consists of emergency medical service providers in Washington County.
The complaint described “swearing and aggression” among emergency medical staff members. The patient, who was later put on stroke alert at a medical facility, reported that his trip to the hospital took about two hours.
“A nearly two-plus-hour delay in care in a possible stroke situation could have caused irreversible damage. Minutes count during a stroke,” the complainant wrote.
Garland told selectboard members that the subject of the January complaint is no longer with the department.
Addressing the April motorcycle crash, Garland said the medical adviser for Vermont EMS District 6 did not find any violations, but conceded that the East Montpelier Fire Department canceling the paramedic request was “not a good decision.” The department has started addressing some of the issues raised at the selectboard meeting, Garland said.
Marshfield Selectboard member Richard Baker reminded Garland that the town’s selectboard recently approved a price bump for the East Montpelier Fire Department’s emergency medical and ambulance services, adding that the town needs “some assurances” that mistakes are not repeated.
“We certainly thought you had good reasons to ask what you did, and we agreed to it,” Baker said. “So on our end, we’re doing what we’ve been asked.”
Marshfield started receiving ambulance services from the East Montpelier Fire Department in 2018.
Records obtained by The Bridge from Marshfield showed that the town has seen a significant increase in the amount it pays annually for ambulance services.
From July 2022 to July 2024, the price Marshfield paid to receive ambulance services from the East Montpelier Fire Department increased from $45,020 to $47,762 per year — a 6% hike — according to a three-year contract signed in January 2022.
By comparison, Marshfield is set to see nearly a 44% increase — $57,314 to $82,532 per year — from July 2025 to July 2027, according to contracts between town officials and the East Montpelier Fire Department.
In an interview with The Bridge following the May meeting, Garland said the East Montpelier Fire Department has seen a decline in volunteers. He also said the department struggles to fill high-skilled paid positions, pointing to a lack of affordable housing and the high cost of living in the area.
As of the Marshfield selectboard meeting in May, the department was still in the middle of hiring a paramedic, Garland said.
He encouraged people to seek out volunteer opportunities to help organizations that provide ambulance services in the region, adding that there are often administrative and support staff positions available.
Garland did not respond to an email in late May requesting a follow-up interview.
