Medford Mass ambulances - far more screwed up than we realized

https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2026/01/medford-signs-contract-with-cataldo-ambulance-service-ends-25-year-deal-with-armstrong-ambulance

Medford signs contract with Cataldo Ambulance Service, ending 25-year
deal with Armstrong Ambulance

Residents, Armstrong's union and city council voiced concern over how
the change was communicated.

Lungo-Koehn noted that mutual aid — which require emergency services
to assist neighboring communities — often resulted in Armstrong
ambulances being dispatched outside Medford, stretching local
resources thin.


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lets explain how ems works in arlington and medford

medford - 6 fire stations plus 1 Armstrong ambulance station

arlington - 3 fire stations plus 1 Armstrong ambulance station

The first ambulance call in Medford is handled by one Medford fire
truck and 1 Armstrong ambulance

The second ambulance call in Medford is handled by a second Medford
fire truck and the 2nd Armstrong ambulance.

3rd ambulance call at roughly the same time is handled by 1 medford
fire truck and a armstrong ambulance from medford or arlington or
stoneham

for arlington

first ambulance call is handled by 1 arlington fire truck and 1
arlington fire ambulance and sometimes 1 Armstrong ambulance from
Arlington.

the 2nd ambulance call in arlington is handled by 1 arlington fire
truck and maybe 1 ambulance from armstrong or pro or belmont or
winchester or lexington

the 3rd ambulance call in arlington is handled by 1 arlington fire
truck and an ambulance from gawd knows where

(note we are skipping over the difference between ALS and BLS here -
but the basic explanation is sound / firm / based / acid / whatevere)

The major problem recently is that armstrong never seems to have a 2nd
ambulance available in arlington on the weekends - so the 2nd
ambulance usually ends up being an Armstrong ambulance from medford

so that 2nd arlington patient gets screwed waiting for a very late
ambulance to show up - and apparently people have been getting screwed
in Medford also due to slow ambulances (that are over in arlington
chasing calls)

keep in mind - whoever transports the patient to the hospital gets
approx $500 from Medicare / Medicaid / health insurance companys

Perhaps the root of the current problem is the basic understanding of
mutual aid - it has to be mutual - if arlington spends 100 hours in
Medford every month covering fire calls - then it should be reasonable
to expect Medford to spend 100 hours in Arlington covering ambulance
calls - but it needs to be balanced - (maybe its a little unequal in
this example since an ambulance has a crew of 2 people - and a fire
truck has a crew of 3 people - so the manhours are different)

capiche?