Ambulance service in Daviess County was a major topic of discussion for the Daviess County Commissioners at Tuesday morning’s meeting. The current ambulance contract expires at the end of the year and the long-time contract holder, Southwest Medical, has notified the Commissioners they will not seek a new contract.
The Commissioners established an Ambulance Advisory Council to seek and examine bids from potential ambulance providers. Reporting for the Advisory Committee, County Councilmen Mike Sprinkle and Tony Duncheon said the committee unanimously recommended using Daviess Community Hospital as the ambulance provider beginning in 2020. Commissioner Tom McCracken asked where the ambulances would be based. DCH representatives said the Washington location would be at the hospital, there will also be a base in the northern part of the county and in the Cannelburg area, but those locations will be determined after reviewing data.
Mike Sprinkle told the Commissioners that a component of the DCH proposal was the inclusion of air ambulance service. After a lengthy discussion, the Commissioners voted 2-1 to approve the recommendation of DCH as the future county ambulance provider. Commissioners Gabhart and McCracken voted for the proposal with Commissioner TAYLOR opposing. The contract is for 5 years at $575,000 per year.
–In other business the Commissioner agreed to split the cost of a cost study of a combined emergency dispatch center with the City of Washington. All 9-1-1 calls made from cell phones go through the County Dispatch whether they originate in the city or county. According to the Sheriff’s report, 80% of all 9-1-1 calls were made by cell phone in 2018. For areas in the city the current system creates a lag in response for calls coming from the City of Washington.
