LIVERPOOL — Rural/Metro Medical Services of Central New York jumped out of the firehouse and into more elbow space in the opening weeks of 2012 by moving an outpost it operates in the village of Liverpool. The ambulance company left shared space provided by the Liverpool Fire Department at 1110 Oswego St. It moved across […]
LIVERPOOL — Rural/Metro Medical Services of Central New York jumped out of the firehouse and into more elbow space in the opening weeks of 2012 by moving an outpost it operates in the village of Liverpool.
The ambulance company left shared space provided by the Liverpool Fire Department at 1110 Oswego St. It moved across the village into 5,000 square feet of space at 114 Salina St.
“This is much better as far as our comfort level, privacy, and being able to get our own work done,” says Yoly Barrio-Taylor, a Rural/Metro paramedic. “It’s very helpful to be able to stretch out. It’s something you don’t get to do at all when you’re in the ambulances regularly like we are when we do our road shifts.”
At the fire department, private space was not available to Rural/Metro employees. Now, though, they have kitchen space, a living area, and sleeping quarters for overnight shifts. They also have wireless Internet access that will allow them to complete charts at the location.
Moving the Liverpool location gave Rural/Metro more garage space to house a second ambulance it recently started operating from Liverpool. Although that second ambulance was based at the fire station, it fits better in the new location, according to Barrio-Taylor.
“We are able to keep our ambulances inside without having to worry about being in anyone else’s space,” she says. “There are a lot of positives.”
Both of the ambulances in Liverpool operate with two-person crews. And, they each have paramedics. Rural/Metro rotates its ambulance crews, so no employees are based exclusively at the Liverpool location. The recently added ambulance is staffed with employees who were previously with Rural/Metro — it didn’t require any hiring.
Rural/Metro started moving in the middle of January and held a grand opening in its new space Feb. 5. The ambulance company is maintaining its Central New York headquarters in Syracuse at 488 W. Onondaga St.
However, some equipment that had been housed in Syracuse is moving to Liverpool. Rural/Metro will store an all-terrain vehicle at the new site. And it will house equipment for its paramedic bicycle team, moving it closer to Onondaga Lake Parkway.
“We have a bike team that services large special events,” says Melissa Fleischmann, Rural/Metro’s public-relations manager. “Their equipment is being placed out there partially because a lot of events out there are right on the parkway. They’ll cover things like the Corporate Challenge and all the other events that happen out there.”
In addition, the Liverpool location will be able to house additional medical supplies, according to Fleischmann. That will keep employees from frequently having to ferry supplies back from Syracuse.
Demand for ambulance services has been increasing in the Liverpool area in recent years, according to Fleischmann. It isn’t being driven solely by emergency calls, though. The Liverpool outpost often sends transport ambulances to area senior-living communities like The Hearth at Greenpoint, Keepsake Village at Greenpoint, and Emeritus at West Side Manor.
“Those are a little different from just responding to 911 calls to people’s homes,” Fleischmann says. “It’s a different arrangement, so we needed to have that space that was in good proximity to those locations.”
Railroad LLC owns the space at 114 Salina St. in Liverpool, according to records from Onondaga County’s Office of Real Property Tax Services. The property owner performed some renovations for Rural/Metro, Fleischmann says. But she declines to release additional details such as the cost of the work.
The Liverpool move comes amid other changes at Rural/Metro Medical Services of Central New York. The ambulance company hired 15 new employees for a billing center serving patients nationally. It took on 2,000 square feet of additional space at its 26,000-square-foot headquarters to accommodate them.
Hiring the 15 workers brought the company to more than 300 employees in Central New York. And it is continuing efforts to recruit new paramedics.
Rural/Metro responds to more than 60,000 calls in Central New York annually. In 2012, it answered nearly 70,000 calls, according to Fleischmann.
The ambulance company serves communities in a six-county area (Onondaga, Cayuga, Madison, Herkimer, Montgomery, and Schoharie) in Central New York. It is part of Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Rural/Metro Corp.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com