There are people in town who have made big adjustments to their lives to support their volunteerism to the Harvard Ambulance Service. They buy cars that can handle driving through snowstorms, wear a radio all day and are available to respond to emergencies, attend training and meetings, support the Bromfield EMT program, and spend time away from their families, all for no gain outside of personal satisfaction.
The town budget is tight and most organizations are still trying to do what they’ve always done: get more money. The ambulance service has been trying to do what it’s always done: run a high-functioning organization on a shockingly modest budget and continue a winning formula.
Despite the strong objection of ambulance members, billing residents for ambulance services has been pushed through unilaterally by the selectmen, without honoring commitments of the previous board to first seek a town vote. They failed to consider a fundamental point: our motives for resisting billing. We’ve been fighting a losing battle to zealously protect a successful culture that was born from the spirit of volunteerism and fortified by the fact that we don’t bill. On the surface, it might look like we’re turning down “free money,” but the reality is that we were in position to know better than anyone else what puts our success in jeopardy, and wanted to let Harvard’s residents decide.
We pointed out to the selectmen that having the ambulance squad, representing about a quarter of one percent of the town’s annual budget, is a little bit like owning a brand new Mercedes for the price of a 1997 Kia with 180,000 miles on it. We warned them that if they pushed resident billing through without seeking input by way of a town vote, they would be putting the sustainability of the squad as a volunteer organization at substantial risk. We warned them that a large number of people would resign. We warned them that would mean a budget increase from around $30,000 to $250,000. They decided to do it anyway. I urge residents to ask them why.
It is with a heavy heart and literally tears in my eyes that I resign my position as an emergency medical technician with the Harvard Ambulance Service.
Jonathan Mead
Littleton Road
