Ambulance squad may be forced to stop responding to reservation

MASSENA, New York (WWNY) - A Massena ambulance squad may have to stop making calls to the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation.

Since 2016, the Seaway Valley Ambulance Squad has had a contract to answer emergency calls on tribal land.

But now, a potential federal vaccine mandate threatens to cut down on the staff of EMTs, according to ambulance squad president David Sherman.

Sherman says the decision has been made to not renew the agreement for 2022. He says his small staff could get smaller and they can’t help everyone.

“We did not want to do this. But, we simply looked at where we were at, and we would not be able to do this with any more loss of numbers,” said Sherman.

He says this can be reversed if his staffing doesn’t take from the possible federal vaccine mandate.

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