Alamo Emergency Medical Services, Inc. (Alamo EMS) was an

Advanced Life Support Advanced Life Support (ALS) is a set of life-saving protocols and skills that extend basic life support to further support the circulation and provide an open airway and adequate ventilation (breathing). Components Key aspects of ALS level care ...

(ALS) and

Basic Life Support Basic life support (BLS) is a level of medical care which is used for patients with life-threatening condition of cardiac arrest until they can be given full medical care by advanced life support providers (paramedics, nurses, physicians or any ...

(BLS)

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

service owned by Health Quest, with transportation services in the Hudson Valley region of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Alamo operated ambulances staffed by

emergency medical technician An emergency medical technician (often, more simply, EMT) is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and som ...

s (EMTs) and

paramedic A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), ...

s. Alamo held Emergency Response

9-1-1 911, sometimes written , is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Mexico, Pakistan, Maldives, Palau, Panama, Iraq, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as ...

contracts and CON's in Dutchess, Putnam,

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

and

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

Counties.

History

Alamo Ambulance began in the early 1960s in Binghamton, New York http://alamoems.com/showPage.asp?pagename=About_WhoAreWeAlamo EMS : Who Are We? by

James Alamo. In 1966 Jim Alamo moved the company to Poughkeepsie, New York. On March 21, 1966, The Poughkeepsie Common Council voted to contract with Alamo and replace the ambulance contract they had with Vassar and St Francis Hospitals. The initial contact called for Alamo to bill $20 per private call, $16 for welfare calls and a $5 surcharge if oxygen was used. Alamo EMS was one of the main EMS companies to offer services to Dutchess County in the late 1900s. Before ambulances were readily available, Alamo would have "Fly Cars" or paramedics that have an SUV with all the equipment an ambulance has, including a drug box. This was more practical for towns and jurisdictions that didn't have enough residents to merit a separate ambulance. Often the paramedic would ride in the back of a town ambulance to provide advanced medical care to the patient en route to the hospital. In 1996 Alamo became the 51st ambulance service in the United States and the first not-for-profit in the Northeast to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS). CAAS is a non-profit organization which was established to encourage and promote quality patient care in America's medical transportation system. The primary focus of the Commission's standards is high-quality patient care. This is accomplished by establishing national standards which not only address the delivery of patient care, but also the ambulance service's total operation and its relationships with other agencies, the general public, and the medical community. The Commission's standards often exceed state or local licensing requirements. In 2004 Alamo received its second perfect score for re-accreditation and still maintains its accreditation today. On December 14, 2007,

Northern Dutchess Paramedics Northern Dutchess Paramedics (NDP EMS) provides advanced life support (ALS) and basic life support (BLS) ambulance transportation services in the Hudson Valley region of New York, USA. NDP operates ambulances staffed by emergency medical technic ...

announced a proposed merger with Alamo EMS. The application was the first step in the regulatory process toward creating an organization which was aimed at better serving the Hudson Valley community in providing emergency and

services. The joint venture would also have required approval from the

State

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

's Office, and the

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

. Health Quest and

anticipated that the regulatory process would take approximately six to twelve months; however as of December 31, 2008 the merger was not completed and is now abandoned. If it had been completed it would have created the largest independent ambulance provider in the Hudson Valley Region. On December 17, 2008, the two companies announced that the merger had fallen through, and would not be completed. The companies claimed they had differences that could not be settled. In January 2009 Health Quest began allocating additional funding to Alamo to aid their goal of covering most of the towns in

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later org ...

. On June 4, 2009, Health Quest, the parent company of Alamo EMS, announced to its employees that the company has been sold to TransCare, with a projected completion of acquisition of August 1, 2009. The date was pushed back to a later date due to the complexities involved in the takeover. On September 19, 2009, the buyout was completed and all Alamo EMS services were terminated and transitioned to TransCare. Up until its demise in 2009, Alamo EMS was the only community-owned ambulance service and was governed by an all-volunteer board of trustees composed of community leaders, and under the guidance the umbrella organizatio
Health Quest
As a "not-for-profit, charitable organization, all operating funds went back into Alamo and increased the quality of the ambulance service offered. Other than emergency medical services, Alamo operated a full-time Ambulette service which provided service to the disabled seven days a week. Also a Training and Education division hosted a wide array of medical training available to all employees and residents of the jurisdictions of the towns they served. Alamo Ambulance Service, Inc. remains a certified ambulance service listed by New York

New York State Department of Health The New York State Department of Health is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for public health. Its regulations are compiled in title 10 of the ''New York Codes, Rules and Regulations''. ...

Bureau of EMS, with one registered ambulance. The address listed is the same as the Healthquest corporate office.

Final Management

* General Manager, Marc Reina * Operations Manager, Eric Flynn * Communications Manager, Larry Bigando *Communications Supervisor, Wendy Perruna * Project Manager, George Thomas

References

External links

Alamo EMS Home Page
{{Dutchess County FD Ambulance services in the United States Companies disestablished in 2009 Medical and health organizations based in New York (state) 1966 establishments in New York (state) 2009 disestablishments in New York (state)