It’s been more than a month since the Bradford hospital closed, ending its inpatient and emergency department services, which first responders say has made it harder to do their jobs.
Brett Butler is the chief of Bradford’s combined fire and ambulance services. Since the Bradford Regional Medical Center closed its emergency department, he said they now have to transport people to either Kane, which is about 45 minutes away, or Olean, New York, which is about a half hour away.
“Our call average went from 45 minutes to an hour ... to now it’s an hour and a half or two hours, if not longer," Butler said.
Because of the long transport times and worries about a vehicle breaking down from added wear, Butler said the city recently bought another ambulance. He recently spoke to WPSU after a busy day.
“Last night, we ran all three (ambulances) at once… twice," Butler said. "You know, it happened two times yesterday.”
Butler said he worries about future recruiting efforts, since many of his employees are missing meal breaks and not getting time to rest between calls.
The former Bradford hospital, which still has outpatient and some speciality services, is currently being sold to a new owner. Butler hopes they’ll eventually reopen the emergency department. He said he worries there could be a day where they can't respond to a call.
"We don't want to be put in the position as the EMS providers or the fire department that, you know, we aren't coming because we were tapped out, our resources are gone because they're all somewhere else," Butler said.
Butler said there are about 25 employees in the city's emergency services department, who are trained in both firefighting and emergency medical care. His department recently dropped a requirement for applicants to have emergency medical technician (EMT) or paramedic certification.
