Seacoast first responders are developing a plan to ensure critical emergency coverage after Exeter Hospital announced it will discontinue its advanced life support paramedic intercept service in March.

Exeter Fire Chief Justin Pizon told the Select Board on Monday, Dec. 9, that Plaistow Fire Chief Chris Knutsen is leading an initiative to organize a mutual aid group of first responders along Route 125. This group aims to provide emergency coverage to smaller towns along the corridor.

“Their goal is to establish a paramedic intercept service … similar to what Exeter (Hospital) ALS was running, but they need something that’s going to be a little bit more financially stable, not a losing entity,” said Pizon. “They’re pretty close. They’ve done their due diligence. They’ve brought in private ambulance services … other individuals who’ve worked on projects similar in the past, and it appears they’ve chosen that privatization is not the direction they want to go in.”

Exeter Hospital announced in the fall it plans to terminate its ALS service in March as part of a cost-saving initiative. Established in 1992, the service deploys highly trained paramedics in specialized “intercept” vehicles equipped with advanced medical equipment. It provides critical advanced life support to communities who do not have their own paramedics.

While communities that have their fulltime paramedics on duty, like Exeter and Hampton, will not be affected, smaller communities like Brentwood, Kingston, Stratham, Hampton Falls and Fremont have relied on the service for years.

Exeter Hospital’s paramedics have annually responded to more than 3,000 calls, covering areas from Exeter to Deerfield.

Plaistow Fire Chief Chris Knutsen is leading an initiative to organize a mutual aid group of first responders along Route 125 to replace Exeter Hospital’s ALS service. (Courtesy of Plaistow Fire Department)

Knutsen said they are still in the preliminary stages of starting this new mutual aid group to replace Exeter Hospital’s ALS service.

Plaistow, he said, established its own ambulance transport service in March, equipped with 14 paramedics.

“We have been working very hard since the sun setting of the (Exeter Hospital ALS) program to see what we might be able to help, and we do have a good plan, but it’s just that there’s still some missing pieces of the puzzle before we’re ready,” Knutsen said.

The mutual aid service would operate similarly to Exeter Hospital’s ALS service, where communities that utilize the service will be billed.

“There’s going to be a cost to the community, potentially a flat fee and a fee on top of that based on population and then it’ll be a fee for transport when they transport somebody,” Pizon said.

Pizon said the service is not something Exeter would be interested in joining due to the cost, noting that “we employ our own paramedics in this community.” Still, he added that the service would greatly help the Exeter Fire Department, as they would not have to dispatch their own paramedics to other towns as often.

Pizon said Exeter Hospital intends to keep its paramedic service until March 20.

However, he said, they could end that sooner depending on how quickly this working group puts together a finalized plan.

Pizon said Exeter is taking steps to prepare for the date including providing additional training.

The Select Board recently approved Pizon’s request for an additional $21,898 to the EMS Budget for Rapid Sequence Intubation (RSI) training — a technique used to quickly secure a patient’s airway by administering a sedative. The budget includes costs for training, certification and equipment, with an additional $5,200 annual recertification fee.

“It’s the one skill … that ALS provided for us nine times since 2023,” added Pizon, referring to RSI. “That is a lifesaving intervention that we will lose, and I would like to see us self-sufficient without the need to bring in any other paramedics from other communities or a paramedic intercept service.”