Local News Committee: Ambulance monopoly better for 911 By BILL GRIMES, Daily News Saying, in effect, that too many cooks are spoiling the soup, the Effingham County Ad Hoc Ambulance Committee is calling on the county board to allow only one ambulance service to operate within the county. Wednesday, the Ad Hoc Committee unanimously approved submission of a letter to county board Chairman Leonard Waldhoff calling for establishment of an ambulance monopoly, chiefly because of concerns the four existing services are having too much trouble retaining paramedics. "By eliminating competition and guaranteeing one ambulance service 100 percent of all runs and transports, revenue that was once distributed among four ambulance services would be directed to one service," the letter says. "The intent is to retain qualified paramedics by offering competitive wages and benefits." Committee member Chuck Schuette, who spoke in favor of the letter Wednesday, said creating the monopoly would enable county residents to receive better ambulance service. He illustrated his point with the example of a heart attack victim. "If a person has a heart attack, they don't want a person with six months experience when they could have somebody with five years experience," Schuette said, adding the more experienced paramedic would be less likely to make potentially crippling or fatal mistakes. Schuette pointed out that Jefferson County, about an hour south of Effingham, created an ambulance monopoly nearly 30 years ago that works well. The letter also advocates the creation of an "oversight committee" comprised of physicians, other health care professionals and community leaders. This committee would be responsible for: € Establishing criteria used to select the single service. € Recommending a service that best meets the criteria. € Monitoring the performance of the selected service so that service quality is maximized and regulatory requirements are met. Effingham County is presently served by Effingham Advanced Ambulance Service, Effingham City-County Ambulance, Altamont Ambulance Service and Gieseking Ambulance Service. However, the Effingham City-County and Altamont services are both owned by Terry White of Altamont, while the Gieseking service does not provide advanced paramedic service. Small parts of the county also are served by ambulance services operated through the Tri-County and Stewardson Fire Protection districts. In other action Wednesday, the ad hoc committee voted to recommend to the Emergency Telephone Systems (911) Board that the old Three Corners Ambulance Service territory be split between the Effingham Advanced and Altamont services. In effect, this proposal would give the Altamont service ambulance runs within Edgewood, while Effingham Advanced would handle runs in Mason. The old Three Corners area covered all of West and Mason townships, as well as the western third of Union Township. Chief Deputy John Loy, who presented the proposed split, said the dividing line between the two service areas would be 800th Street. Loy is a member of the Emergency Service Committee of the 911 board that crafted the proposed split. Other members of that committee are Kate Weber and Butch Mounteer. Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 132 or bgrimes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sean A. Aaron (CIFN*1) Central Illinois Fire Network cifn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx www.geocities.com/central_illinois_firenet _____________________________________________________________ Get email for your site ---> http://www.everyone.net