Staff Writer Colin Woodard’s Dec. 8-9 series on emergency medical issues was typically spot-on. Here in New Gloucester, the entire volunteer fire department recently resigned under the societal and economic pressures he describes. This situation is multi-faceted, but it seems to me (and the series suggests) that Maine towns have grown beyond the ability of volunteers to handle this sort of societal function on the existing model.

Politics matter here. In New Gloucester, for example, an ensconced town leadership has swallowed whole the anti-government, anti-taxation, Ayn Randian Kool-Aid. Accordingly, it has proved unwilling to ramp up revenue to cover the emergency medical shortfalls. Outsourcing is not the answer, as for-profit models require even more money (the cost of the service, plus profit).

We need a unified system not driven by profit. Go search Wikipedia for “Emergency Health Services Canada.” Each province handles these programs differently, but Maine needs something along these lines – and it’s going to cost money. Right-wingers will object, but this is a big state in terms of geographic size – with a small, widely dispersed population relative to that size. Service delivery has been and will always be expensive here. It’s the price we pay for residing in such a beautiful place largely devoid of population density.

What’s more, we have an aging population, so this situation is going to get more acute. The only way to sort it? Socialize the cost, statewide. Those on the right will reflexively resist, until enough of their relatives die on account of the facts on the ground.

Hal Phillips

New Gloucester