
The concept of Shared Services, a term garnering great attention on the national, statewide, county and local stages, has in fact been in use by the Clinton First Aid & Rescue Squad (CFARS) for many years. It is important to note that what sharing services should really strive for is an overall improvement in the level of service desired by citizens of a particular jurisdiction while maintaining high cost efficiency.
In April of 2010, CFARS partnered with The Borough of Lebanon and the Lebanon Fire Company (LFC) to bolster the delivery of emergency medical service by stationing one of the CFARS ambulances at the LFC station. This unit had been located in the Borough of Lebanon, Monday through Friday, during daytime hours. This move gave both residents and visitors increased service coverage. This partnership worked exceedingly well and is now embarking on a new level of commitment.
According to both LFC Chief Kevin Saharic and CFARS Chief Frank Setnicky, the natural progression in this partnership continues between the two emergency services providers with the memberships of both agencies in full support. On Monday, January 9, 2012, one of the CFARS ambulances will be permanently stationed at the LFC station. It will be staffed by CFARS career staff, Monday through Friday, 6:00am to 6:00pm. At all other times, volunteer members will have access to the unit to aid in quicker response times for incidents closer to Lebanon Borough. This will aid CFARS members living in the area and also when there are multiple unit requests for large scale incidents.
According to CFARS Operations Chief Bucky Buchanan, “The expansion of this partnership will not only expand and improve upon the emergency medical coverage within this community, but also save wear and tear on the CFARS vehicles\".
We\'d like to thank the strong partnership that has been formed with LFC for allowing us access to provide quicker and more efficient patient care to the residents of and visitors to Borough of Lebanon and the surrounding communities. Both department Chiefs are happy to share that this new partnership is being done at no additional cost to either agency or the Borough of Lebanon