Chick, who serves on the three-member committee appointed to find a replacement for Commonwealth Health Corporation (CHC), said a meeting with the withdrawing company is scheduled to find out how much equipment will be coming back to the county once they leave in June of next year.
CHC gave notice that it will be pulling out of Logan County just one month into its new agreement, saying it did not feel appreciated by the fiscal court.
The company, which owns the Medical Center in Bowling Green, has supplied Logan County's ambulance service for the past 10 years with no subsidy; however, this year officials said they would need $260,000 to continue the service.
It was a surprise to the fiscal court when magistrates received word that CHC would be leaving just weeks after the county agreed to pay the subsidy.
“We have been talking with several services,” said Chick. “When we find out how much equipment we will get back from CHC and find out what their intentions are with the certificates of need then we will be able to bid the service out.”
CHC holds two “certificates of need” (which is similar to a license) to operate in Logan County, one for Auburn and one for the rest of the county. Chick said he felt CHC would be leaving the whole county, but wanted to make sure that was CHCs intention before putting the service out for bid.
According to the original agreement between CHC and the county, should either party determine not to continue the ambulance service, the CHC will take appropriate steps to ensure the transfer of the necessary license and to donate sufficient equipment back to the county so it can continue operation of an ambulance service.
Chick said the county has retained the help of Jim Duke to figure out how to bid the service and to act as a consultant to the committee. Duke is the director of King Ambulance Service in Ohio County. King is owned by Wiggins Drugs, which also owns Pro-Care Home Health in Logan County.
King Ambulance Service has been serving Ohio County for 10 years and currently runs six Advanced Life Support (ALS) units for a population of 24,000. Ohio County owns the ambulances and equipment and contracts with Wiggins to run the service.
Chick said he feels confident Wiggins Drugs will be bidding on Logan County's service once the committee finds out what they will be getting from CHC.
“We do not want to run our own service,” said Chick. “We have been there and don't want to go backward. The citizens of Logan County are used to having an ALS service and that is exactly what we are going to continue having.”
The plan at this time, said Chick, is for the county to own the ambulances and equipment and to have an outside service come in and run it - including the hiring and firing and the billing.
Chick said it costs approximately $90,000 to purchase a fully equipped ambulance. He said the county would like to have at least five or six ambulances - two would be on the clock 24/7 and carry one parametric and one EMT each. Another would be on call for an eight hour shift during peak time, another would be on call for back up and one or two more would be waiting in case of a breakdown or disaster.
“These ambulances would be circulating throughout the community like CHC did,” said Chick, adding that the main base of operation would be at the end of Armstrong Street in Russellville. CHC currently leases the county's building for $15,000 annually.
Chick said at this time the county is only looking at the Russellville station. He said the committee is working hand in hand with the county's mayors to make sure their communities have proper coverage.
“We need to remember that there is a mutual agreement between neighboring counties. This means if we need ambulance service at the borders of our county and we cannot get there in a timely matter we can call on either Simpson, Butler, Todd, Muhlenberg or Warren counties to send their service,” said Chick.
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