Five months in the making, mutual aid pact near

Lebanon Fire and EMS Chief Dan Meehan ... says mutual aid pact should be in place by Friday. Milton Chief Nick Marique, right. (Courtesy photos Lebanon Fire & EMS, Milton Fire & Rescue)

LEBANON - Some five months after Milton and Lebanon fire and EMS chiefs began working on an EMS mutual aid pact, and almost four months after The Lebanon Voice ran a series of articles highlighting its need through a highly personalized account of Lebanon Voice President Martha T. Soto-Galicia's tardy transport during a February aneurysm, Lebanon chief Dan Meehan announced on Friday that an agreement has finally been fine-tuned and should be in place within a week.

The pact was drafted by Milton Fire and EMS Chief Nick Marique and sent to his Lebanon counterpart in mid-August.

Then on Aug. 30 Meehan said that streets were being added and details worked out on which calls would be "automatic," meaning at what medical incident severity level would Milton automatically respond to a section of Lebanon known as District 6, which comprises parts of West Lebanon near the Milton line.

In June Marique told The Lebanon Voice that he and Meehan had been talking about a mutual aid pact for some time.

A local mutual aid pact is seen as helping expedite treatment in medical emergencies by making it clear what calls in Lebanon can be answered by Milton EMS automatically. Without a mutual aid agreement in place, one town cannot respond to another town without its request.

In most sections of District 6, a Milton ambulance can be on scene in two or three minutes, while an ambulance from Central Station on Upper Cross Road can take 10 or 15 minutes.

On Feb. 12 when Soto-Galicia suffered a brain aneurysm, no mutual aid pact was in place, and Lebanon Fire and Rescue Chief Dan Meehan opted to not call Milton for assistance.

Soto-Galicia lives on Prospect Hill Road a minute from the Milton line.

The decision cost valuable minutes in treatment of the aneurysm, which medical experts agree is vital since they are fatal about half the time and the sooner they can be treated, the less debilitating will be the lingering after-effects such as vision issues, memory loss and sudden onset diabetes, which have all been suffered by Soto-Galicia.

Also on Feb. 12, Lebanon did not staff its stationhouse as it does now, which slowed Lebanon's response even more.

Meehan has never admitted any malfeasance or culpability in the Feb. 12 response, which he, himself, responded to.

To read some of The Lebanon Voice stories from the series, click the links below.

http://thelebanonvoice.com/response-assignment-determinant-codes-said-key-cms-3893

http://thelebanonvoice.com/response-time-that-day-about-double-the-average-cms-3867

http://thelebanonvoice.com/all-they-have-to-do-is-talk-and-do-it-cms-3859

http://thelebanonvoice.com/pph-article-details-need-for-speed-in-brain-trauma-cms-3856

http://thelebanonvoice.com/mutual-aid-failed-martha-it-could-fail-you-too-cms-3847