By CRISTINE MEIXNER

Express Editor

BENSON - A local man’s medical emergency resulted in a special meeting of the Benson Town Board last week.

Philip Blowers asked for the meeting after his father-in-law suffered a stroke at Blowers’ home Jan. 15. “I think the ambulance took too long [to arrive],” he said.

Starting this year, the Town of Benson no longer contracts with the volunteer Town of Northampton Ambulance Service for emergency medical service. Calls go to Ambulance Service of Fulton County in Gloversville instead, which bills patients and their insurance carriers for its services.

“My concern is the Town of Benson uses somebody so far away as primary,” Blowers told the Town Board Jan. 18. Several other members of the public agreed.

Blowers said his father-in-law was “bad shape” at Albany Medical Center.

Blowers thought ASFC took 35-40 minutes to arrive at his home on County Route 6. John G. Stortecky, recently named Benson’s representative to the Hamilton County Fire Advisory Board, presented a summary of the call that shows ASFC arrived 29 minutes after Blowers called 9-1-1.

Stortecky said the information came from the Hamilton and Fulton county sheriff offices and was verified by ASFC.

Delilah Reynolds, a nurse, recounted her experience with EMS when her husband fell off their roof in 2008. He suffered scalp lacerations and bleeding inside the brain. Because he takes blood thinners Reynolds could not stop the bleeding.

“NAS stabilized him and had him ready to load as ASFC pulled in,” Reynolds said. “He lost a lot of blood. He had four blood transfusions.”

About 20 minutes was saved because NAS had her husband ready to transport. “That made a difference in my husband’s outcome,” Reynolds said. “He got to the hospital sooner so they could start the clotting process.”

NAS does not bill patients for care, as ASFC does, but did have a contract with Benson under which it was paid to respond to calls here. The Town Board dropped the contract for budgetary reasons.

Through 2011 NAS charged Benson $50 per call that did not result in transport to hospital and $100 per call for those that did. For 2012 NAS wanted a flat $400 per call, which is what the Town of Hope pays.

“We could not justify the increase,” Supervisor Ermina Pincombe said, “due to the state’s 2 percent cap [on property tax levy increases].”

“You would if you were the one laying on the floor,” former Councilman Richard “Dick” Barlow said.

Councilman John Shepard III defended the board’s decision. “If you have 10 transports at $100 it’s $1,000. At $400 it’s $4,000. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but with state mandates ... fire service costs us $40,000 a year...”

“For one fire every 10 years,” Reynolds said.

According to Captain Jack Farquhar, NAS responded to eight Benson calls in 2011, nine in 2010, none in 2009, nine in 2008, 13 in 2007, four in 2006, nine in 2005, four in 2004 and seven in 2003 - 61 calls in nine years or almost seven calls a year on average.

“The population is not getting any younger,” resident Peg Schutze said, “and this is a vital service. I feel it should be put back in next year’s budget.”

The meeting was held only to gather information; no action was taken. The Benson Town Board next meets Wednesday, Feb. 8, starting at 7 p.m. at Town Hall.