Both Russellville Mayor Gene Zick and Lewisburg Mayor Ken Whitson were in attendance as was Russellville Fire Chief Billy Poole, a few firefighters and Russellville Volunteer Fire Chief Ben Ferguson.
Judge Chick began the meeting recognizing the county had a good ambulance service with Commonwealth Health Corporation (CHC) and were very disappointed CHC decided to discontinue its emergency medical services. Chick said even though the court was surprised by the move they needed to look to the future.
Chick asked for volunteers to be on the committee. He said the job would take several hours of work. He added if the door was still open with CHC, he didn't want to close it but said the committee didn't need to spend to much of its time if CHC wasn't responsive.
“We only have 11 months to solve this problem,” said Chick.
Magistrate Thomas Bouldin volunteered to serve on the committee but took himself off because other magistrates had more time.
Chick asked the court if they thought he should serve on the committee. He said expressed his interest in serving and the court thought he should.
Magistrates Curtis Watkins and Kerry Kenady also volunteered and were placed on the committee with Chick by a unanimous vote of the court.
Chick wants the mayors of Adairville, Auburn, Lewisburg and Russellville to act as advisors in the process.
Magistrate Harold Prince told the court it would be a good idea to have a group of local business owners to try to talk to CHC about getting them to stay.
Chick told Prince he would call CHC himself if that was what the court wanted him to do. Prince said there were a lot of people in the county who were happy with CHC's ambulance service. He said a new service would be more expensive.
Magistrate Loyd Houchens was worried about the first responder program. CHC worked directly with the first responders and Houchens wondered who would take over that roll when CHC left.
Emergency Communications Director Judy Toombs told the court if the county ran its own service or went with another service there would have to be a qualified medical director who would work directly with 911, the first responders program and the ambulances.
The court mentioned they would have to stay in communication with all these agencies during their investigations.
Chick said he felt the meeting went well. He said all the magistrates knew the importance of the situation and would all work very hard to make sure Logan County's citizens were supplied with a good emergency medical service.
Whitson, who has been a skeptic of CHC from the beginning, said he “knew this was going to happen all along.”
Whitson was very angry when CHC pulled its ambulances out of Lewisburg five years into the 10-year agreement. The mayor was very concerned about the citizens of the north Logan community and was very vocal about it during negotiations last fall.
Prince was very frustrated when he heard CHC was leaving. “I wish the court would have listened to me when CHC offered the three-year deal. I tried to get them to trade with us,” Prince said.
Magistrates Loyd Houchens, Kerry Kenady, Curtis Watkins and Jo Orange were all disappointed with the recent news but all agreed the court needed to move forward and try to find a solution to the problem.
“I feel like the court was supportive to CHC. I agree with Judge Chick about taxpayer's having a right to question,” said Houchens.
Bouldin said the court needed to provide an equal service to the citizens, with Kenady agreeing.
“The first thing we need to do is check with Wade Stone with CHC and see if the door is still open,” said Watkins. “If not then we need to see what other services are out there.”
Both Watkins and Orange agreed they did not want to see the county go back into the ambulance business. “I'd rather find a service who is ready to come in. I don't want to go backward. We've been there and done that,” said Watkins.
Post a Comment
