Rising costs and demand push volunteer EMS to breaking point

For decades, the Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Mohegan Emergency Medical Services have operated as volunteer-based agencies supplemented by paid staff—albeit with uneven municipal support.

Now, their leaders warn the current model is nearing a tipping point, leaving the organizations straining to meet demand amid rising costs and surging call volumes.

In response, elected officials, emergency responders and county officials met March 30 at Cortlandt Town Hall for a roundtable on the future of emergency medical services. Participants included officials from Yorktown and Cortlandt; Mohegan Emergency Medical Services Chief Matt Kness and Yorktown Volunteer Ambulance Corps Chief Rick Davin, each joined by a board member. Also on hand were representatives from Peekskill EMS, Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Westchester County’s Department of Emergency Services.

“At the end of the meeting, we all agreed that it would be up to the ambulance corps to get together and come together as to what they thought was the best approach for them to move forward,” Davin told Yorktown News. “We both said, we don’t need two months—we can get back to you in two weeks.”

“We were not looking to prolong this,” Davin added. “We were looking to keep it moving at a good pace.”

Kness echoed that urgency and said he appreciated the “opportunity to draft the study scope and get everything moving forward.”

The proposed study would examine alternative funding options to stabilize revenue for the two volunteer corps—Mohegan and Yorktown. Mohegan serves the Town of Yorktown as well as parts of the Town of Cortlandt.

As call volumes “explode,” Kness said, “we need to get reliable funding secured to make sure an ambulance responds as our residents call.”

The numbers underscore the strain.

Kness said Mohegan EMS is nearing city-level demand, logging 4,098 calls last year. Davin noted YVAC has seen a 25 percent increase in call volume over the past decade, with about 1,700 calls recorded for 2025.

“I believe this is beginning to turn into a bit of a political issue,” Kness said, adding that “as our town’s infrastructure and population dramatically increases, our emergency services must grow with it.”

That increased demand, he said, extends beyond EMS to include the Yorktown Police Department.

While they serve different parts of the community, Kness and Davin are in lockstep, sharing goals and direction.

Davin credited Councilwoman Susan Siegel as a key force pushing the issue forward.

“She had been fighting up in a battle on this for whatever reason,” he said. “She’s not getting a lot of support.”

In a statement earlier this month, Supervisor Ed Lachterman outlined the town’s next steps, including discussions with state lawmakers on potential support for combining EMS services, talks with Westchester County on a possible countywide approach, coordinating with Cortlandt on impacts to the Mohegan district and continuing engagement with the town’s volunteer corps.

“We’re trying to lead from the front on what has become a statewide societal issue for volunteer public safety corps,” Lachterman said. “Yorktown’s first obligation is to keep our residents safe. That will be the guiding principle in any decision our Town Board makes on EMS.”

He further told Yorktown News that there are logistics and legalities that need to be looked at.

But Siegel said the issue needs to be addressed without delay.

“All the possible options have already been studied,” she said. “It was clear at the March 30 roundtable that the only viable option is creating ambulance districts. Cortlandt agreed to the study in January. It’s Supervisor Lachterman who has continued to block moving ahead with the study.”

Siegel argued the study itself is not the obstacle and that decisions should move forward more quickly.

“What it will do is give residents and Town Board members the information they’ll need to help them decide how much they’re willing to pay for the comfort of knowing that when they need an ambulance, one will be available in the shortest possible time.”