Thank you to the Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corp Board of Directors. The board has put off relocating the ambulance in Deansboro to Clark Mills and will take some time to evaluate the best place for Station 3 that serves southern Oneida County and North Brookfield.
In a letter in last week’s Times, COCVAC’s board announced that no changes will be made in where the ambulance is stationed at this time. The board will invited representatives of Sangerfield, Marshall, Augusta, Waterville, Oriskany Falls and North Brookfield to a meeting sometime in the next weeks to explain the options for serving the area with emergency services.
This sets aside a plan told to those local officials in December that the ambulance would move to the Clark Mills station, which adds response time to calls in the southern zone. While that could still happen, the fact that COCVAC has decided to take more time to decide is a good sign that concerns on the move will be heard.
Since the board is willing to re-evaluate where the ambulance goes, we urge them to also reconsider putting it in Deansboro in a mobile home rather than the requested modular home. If that is not suitable or doable, then reconsideration of the former Waterville ambulance headquarters on Route 20 should be done, as it served as a base of operations for over 40 years and contains all that COCVAC had requested in a station.
COCVAC is looking to make the best decisions for all its territory with limited resources available. Taking some more time and soliciting thoughts of those concerned will help assure the decision made is the best one and understood by everyone.