POCAHONTAS, Ill. — After another heated meeting Wednesday in Pocahontas, Illinois, the fire protection board isn’t any closer to making a decision about the future of their emergency medical services.
The Pocahontas Old Ripley Fire Protection Board says they only have one emergency medical technician left and have to make a decision about hiring a commercial ambulance service before Oct. 1.
The board says they do not have the money to supply ambulance services themselves anymore, pointing to a lack of reimbursement from insurance companies.
They are looking at two proposals:
One option would be to station advanced life support services paramedics at the station for 12 hours during the day and they would respond from the neighboring town of Greeneville in the evening.
The other option would be to have an ambulance service stationed at the firehouse 24 hours a day but they could only provide basic life support.
Right now, their staff is only basic life support.
“If we have a serious injury, which is about half of our calls, we have to call for advanced life support. And they meet us halfway between Greenville or Highland, whichever hospital we're going to. And their paramedic jumps on our truck. That usually takes anywhere from eight to 10 minutes,” Pocahontas Old Ripley Fire Protection Board President Don Hawley said.
Some residents are not confident in the way the process is being handled and are concerned about one of the company’s proposals.
One of the volunteer firefighters says they currently work with that company, called Rural Med, and have had issues with response times.
“Sunday morning Rural Med was supposed to be here. They weren’t. We timed it and it took them 45 minutes from the time they were paged to get to File Avenue,” the firefighter said.
Rep. Charlie Meier, R-District 109, said there is a new law that goes into effect next year that would allow Illinois towns to join together to create a new ambulance district supported by a tax that would need to be approved by the voters.
He said this very issue is happening statewide.
The Pocahontas Old Ripley Fire Protection Board will have another meeting next Thursday.