Residents in three rural Penobscot County towns will have to wait 20 minutes longer for an ambulance to arrive.
Citing ongoing staffing issues, Northern Light Mayo Hospital has alerted officials in the town of Corinth that it will no longer staff an ambulance at the town's fire department starting in early September.
Ambulances will instead be deployed from Dover-Foxcroft and Dexter areas. Corinth fire department captain Matt Nadeau said the town's ambulance has also been deployed to the nearby towns of Bradford and Charleston, responding to six or seven calls a day.
"Speaking in terms of critically serious emergencies, it is completely possible that that lengthened delay may make patients more critical upon our arrival," Nadeau said. "So you know that being said, obviously there are skilled EMTs and paramedics responding, but it may be more difficult to help people given those delays in response."
The decision follows Northern Light's announcement that it will begin charging some towns for ambulance services.
