Medford will enter a three-year contract with a new ambulance provider, Cataldo Ambulance Service, on Jan. 19, ending a 25-year agreement with Armstrong Ambulance. Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn ultimately decided to switch services due to contractual and performance concerns with Armstrong.
Armstrong was slated to renew their contract with Medford in November before being notified of Lungo-Koehn’s decision to change companies. Armstrong, along with Teamsters Local 25 — the union that represents Armstrong Employees — released statements questioning city officials’ transparency and reasoning for changing ambulance providers.
The city administration had been in contract negotiations with both Cataldo and Armstrong since last spring. Cataldo was notified on Dec. 19 by the mayor that she had chosen to award the contract to the company.
“I knew that, considering the contract was expiring [in] November 2025, it was important to gain leverage and explore other companies to make sure we got the best, not only financial, deal but the best option for our residents,” Lungo-Koehn said.
Cataldo is offering approximately 21 new automated external defibrillators to be used by the Fire Department, as well as six AEDs placed in Medford schools, according to the city’s Dec. 23 press release. The company is also expanding its behavioral health unit — a response team dedicated to helping individuals experiencing mental health or addiction crises — from Lynn into Medford.
In preparation for the imminent transfer of ambulance providers, CEO of Cataldo Ambulance Service Dennis Cataldo shared that the company has acquired five new ambulances that will be used in Medford. Cataldo has also been sourcing Armstrong employees to help train Cataldo emergency medical technicians in the communications and logistics involved in serving a city of Medford’s size.
“We provide service in 14 or 15 communities, many of them are very significant, similar in size [and] in some cases larger than Medford,” Cataldo said. “We have a lot of experience in providing service.”
Robert Hatzikonstantis, a paramedic with Armstrong and a Teamsters Local 25 member, explained in an interview with the Daily that because Armstrong EMTs are unionized, they receive intensive training, guidance from experienced paramedics and are held to a higher standard of performance than other companies may require.
“It did seem pretty abrupt to the employees, and I think … management [was] a little blindsided [as well],” Hatzikonstantis said, describing how Armstrong employees received the news. “People were upset because the providers that work in Medford have been dedicated to Medford for years now.”
Following discussions over contract negotiations and concerns at the Jan. 6 Medford City Council meeting, the council convened a Committee of the Whole on Jan. 13 to hear from major players in the negotiations.
Police Chief Jack Buckley, Fire Chief Todd Evans and Mayor’s Office Chief of Staff Nina Nazarian presented data to the council, highlighting examples of slow Armstrong response times and expressed frustration with Armstrong’s communication and failure to meet certain contractual obligations.
The administration’s main contractual concerns with Armstrong included the company’s unwillingness to pay $75,000 in annual reimbursements owed to the city, as well as its failure to agree to provide free transportation for injured first responders and EMT training for firefighters.
Lungo-Koehn noted that mutual aid — which require emergency services to assist neighboring communities — often resulted in Armstrong ambulances being dispatched outside Medford, stretching local resources thin.
Lungo-Koehn underlined that she wanted to maintain positive relationships with both companies regardless of how negotiations panned out.
“This was completely a business decision that related to fiscal responsibility,” Lungo-Koehn said. “Which company do we trust? Which company is going to communicate with us? Which company do we believe is going to have the fastest response times? … All those answers were Cataldo.”
Armstrong Ambulance CEO Richard Raymond, Armstrong EMTs and a Teamsters union representative also spoke at the Jan. 13 meeting. Raymond disputed the administration’s claims of underperformance and nonpayment, remarking that the company was only seeking clearer and more specific language in the contract provisions.
Lungo-Koehn lauded Cataldo’s cooperation and communication during the transition process.
“I just want to focus on the transition and keeping our community safe, keeping response times low, getting our new AEDs in place, bringing on the behavioral health unit and having great communications with a new ambulance provider that I know is going to work very hard for our community,” Lungo-Koehn said.
The City Council voted to ask the mayor to delay the transition to Cataldo until a detailed transition plan is presented, along with specific information about both companies’ response times, the city’s invoices to Armstrong and and the mayor’s communications with Armstrong regarding the decision.
