Town of Colonie Emergency Medical Services Department

About the Department
Notice of Privacy Practice & Forms
Programs and Services
Honors/ Awards /Affiliations
How To Contact Us

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

About Colonie EMS

Our Mission

To direct all aspects of the Town of Colonie Emergency Medical Services system and to provide basic and advanced life support to the Town.

Emergency medical treatment and transportation of the sick and injured
Developing standards policies and procedures pertaining to the EMS system
Continuous quality improvement
Emergency medical dispatch
Basic and advanced life support ambulance service
Original and continuing education
Community training

The Town of Colonie Emergency Medical Services Department is a paramedic and ambulance service licensed by the NYS Department of Health and authorized to provide emergency medical treatment and transportation services to the Town of Colonie and the Stanford Heights Fire District. Colonie EMS also provides mutual aid to neighboring communities as well as air ambulance service aboard the NYS Police Lifeguard Air Rescue helicopter.

Notice of Privacy Practice: (this document is in Adobe Acrobat format. If you do not already have it installed on your computer, you may download it by clicking here.)

Patient Request for Records Form: A request form that patients can fill out in order to access or get copies of their EMS records.

HIPAA Authorization Form: If you are not a patient, you may be able to access a patient's EMS records by having the patient sign this Authorization Form.

These forms many be printed and send to:

Department of Emergency Medical Services
Public Safety Center
312 Wolf Road
Latham, New York 12110

Programs and Services
	First Responders
	Special Operations / Rescue
	Emergency Operations Plan

Services

Colonie EMS is unique in that it employs a combination of paid and volunteer staff, working side by side and wearing the same uniform. We have roughly 80 paid and 25 volunteer staff members helping the community. Colonie EMS responds to over 9,000 emergency calls each year from 4 strategically located stations with a fleet of 20 various emergency vehicles. Our EMS Stations are located at:

EMS Station # 1,312 Old Wolf Rd (Latham)
Serves as EMS headquarters and back-up support to the entire Town

EMS Station # 2 Consaul Road
Covers the Stanford Heights, Midway and Village of Colonie Fire Districts

EMS Station # 3 Osborne and Albany-Shaker Road Covers the Shaker Road-Loudonville, Village of Menands, West Albany, and Fuller Road Fire Districts

EMS Station # 4 Loudon Road
Covers the Latham, Boght, Verdoy, Maplewood and Schuyler Heights Fire District

Colonie EMS is an advanced life support (ALS) service with a Paramedic responding to and assessing each patient. The daytime operation is staffed predominantly by paid staff, while the night operation is staffed predominantly by volunteers.

The average ALS response time is under 7 minutes. Our long term survival rate for cardiac arrest patients in 2009 was 22%. This long term survival rate is the gold standard of EMS systems in the USA. Colonie EMS received the International Association of Fire Chief's Heartsafe Community award in 2010 for achieving the highest resuscitation rate in the United States for a community of less than 100,000 residents.

On each shift, there is a chief officer on duty who acts as the shift commander. The staff work 12 hour shifts and respond from four EMS stations. All staff (paid and volunteer) are required to meet the same standards to qualify for the rank of Driver, EMT, Advanced EMT and Paramedic. All personnel are uniformed in the same manner both paid and volunteer.

First Responders
Services are delivered by Colonie EMS with Advance Life Support and Basic Life Support first response is provided by six volunteer fire departments and our Town Police Department. Medical direction, supervision, and Quality Improvement for all first responders is provided by Colonie EMS. Colonie EMS requires all first responders to sign a contract with the Town which requires them to meet strict standards for the provision of first response services. All first responders must complete DOT First Responder Training, have Basic Cardiac Life Support Certification and meet NYS minimum equipment requirements. In 1998 all fire departments became operational with Automated External Defibrillators (AED's) and in December of 1999, all Colonie Police patrol units were be equipped with AED's.

EMS Special Operations
Colonie EMS is usually first to arrive at the scene of most medical emergencies and rescue situations in the community. Due to the need for EMS personnel to gain access to patients, regardless of location, the need for proper training and equipment became evident. Just as their military counterparts, civilian EMS personnel need to be properly trained and equipped to access, assess, treat, package and evacuate patients, even in hazardous environments. With these principles in mind, the Colonie EMS Special Operations Team was developed. All staff holding the rank of EMT or paramedic are required to be trained as rescue technicians and have completed the following training:

Vehicle Rescue
Basic Water rescue
Ice Rescue
Technical Rope Rescue
Confined Space Rescue
Haz-Mat Technician

Technical Rescue/Haz Mat
Colonie EMS Special Operations is an integral part of the initial response to all rescue situations and are part of each of the Town's specialized rescue teams for Water/Ice Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, Technical Rope Rescue and Haz-Mat. Both volunteer and paid staff are members of the team.

Bike Team
To cover special events, Colonie EMS deploys personnel on bicycles to patrol and rapidly access emergencies in crowd situations.

Honors/Awards/Affiliations

Colonie EMS was awarded the 2010 International Association of Fire Chiefs Heartsafe Community Award for achieving the highest resuscitation rate in the United States for a community of less than 100,000 resident.

Colonie EMS was awarded New York State EMS agency of the year for 2010

Colonie EMS was awarded the 2010 REMO EMS agency of the year

Colonie EMS receives regional honors
In 1992, Colonie EMS was awarded the EMS Service of the Year award by the Regional EMS Council of the Hudson-Mohawk Valley.

Colonie EMS receives award as the nation's finest!
The Town of Colonie Emergency Medical Services Department was awarded the National Association of Emergency Medical Technician's National Paramedic Service of the Year Award for 1999. Services from across the United States compete to receive this prestigious annual award. The award is given to one service of high distinction that has demonstrated excellence, innovation and community service. Previous award recipients have been EMS agencies in Tampa, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Houston.

Colonie EMS personnel were on hand to receive the award at the National Association of EMTs symposium in Syracuse, New York on October 2, 1999.This national award-coinciding with our tenth anniversary was especially nice and served to recognize all of the members of our community EMS team: EMS Department, Fire Departments, Police Department, Medical Community and our Town administration, all of whom are part of our nationally recognized, high caliber service.

How To Contact The Emergency Medical Services Department

Mailing Address
Public Safety Center
312 Wolf Road
Latham, New York 12110

Phone Number
782-2645
In an emergency dial 911 for EMS, Police and Fire

Fax Number
782-2656

E-Mail
colonie@colonie.org

To contact our offices during business hours call (518)-782-2645

Medical Director
Dr. Michael W. Dailey, MD

Deputy Chief
Peter Berry, BPS, EMT-P

Night Division Assistant Chief and Captains
Jack Bevilacqua, AS, NREMT-P
Ralph Fasano, BS, NREMT-P
Mike Kimok, NREMT-P

Day Division Assistant Chief and Captain
Raymond Hughes, III, AS, EMT-P
Paul Sugrue
Christopher Kostyun

Support Services Assistant Chief
Paul Fink, AS, NREMT-P