A relative newcomer to emergency health services in Vermont is shutting down after playing a significant role in providing testing and vaccination services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Garnet Transport Medicine LLC, which does business as Garnet Health, announced Tuesday that it will be ending all of its operations on Jan. 31, the same day that the Vermont Department of Health will close its walk-in vaccination clinics statewide.
“Given the wind-down of COVID-19 services subsidized by the state and federal government, Garnet is left without sufficient revenues to sustain operations and must make decisions to prevent a catastrophic collapse,” said Ryan Ferris, company president and CEO, in a written statement. The company declined to answer further questions for this article.
The private, for-profit company with an office in Williston and transport bays in Essex Junction opened in 2019, offering scheduled ambulance transportation between hospitals and long-term care centers or, when needed, private homes and medical offices.
Garnet Health notified the Vermont Department of Labor Jan. 12 that it would be laying off 76 employees, according to Deputy Labor Commissioner Dustin Degree. The department will help employees arrange for unemployment benefits and will offer assistance in finding new work, he said.
When the pandemic shut down facility transfers to a minimum in early 2020, Garnet Health joined mostly nonprofit and municipal emergency medical services providers and hospitals in staffing walk-in Covid-19 testing sites. The company added Covid-19 vaccination services after vaccines became available in 2021.
Early in the pandemic, Garnet Health was one of just a few companies in the state offering same-day Covid-19 testing, then a requirement for traveling. By October 2020, the company staffed an on-site testing location at Burlington International Airport for travelers and nontravelers alike. By December 2020, Garnet was one of 10 emergency service organizations contracted with the state to offer walk-in clinics.
The company has hosted busy testing and vaccine clinics in Burlington, South Burlington, Essex and Middlebury, among other locations. Seven Days reported that the company also provided testing in prisons for the state Department of Corrections and at summer camps.
In the statement, Ferris blamed the company’s financial difficulties on low reimbursement rates for emergency medical services from insurance companies and “the high cost of operating a professional medical practice.”
He said company leadership had pursued a variety of options to keep the business open, including state and federal Covid-19 stabilization grants and efforts to market the company for sale, without success. After layoffs, company leadership will reevaluate its options for reopening “with a more limited offering of medical services in the future,” the statement said.
Will Moran, chief of emergency medical services at the Vermont Department of Health, said the closure would not lead to a gap in services. Many ambulance and emergency service providers could step in to provide transport services, he said. According to the department, more than 180 ambulance and first responder agencies are licensed to operate in Vermont.
But the end of the company would be felt for other reasons, Moran said.
“Garnet was a valued ambulance service and provided quality care and ambulance transportation to Vermonters,” Moran said. “Garnet also answered the call during the Covid-19 pandemic and provided much-needed vaccination and testing services. Their presence will be missed.”