COLUMBUS, Ind. — City and county officials have agreed on a contract that Columbus Regional Hospital’s EMS service will provide 911 emergency ambulance service to all areas of Bartholomew County through at least 2024.
On Monday, the Bartholomew County Commissioners approved an extension of a four-year agreement that emerged out of last week’s annual meeting of the Emergency Ambulance Services Board. The Columbus Board of Public Works and Safety approved the agreement on Tuesday.
Mary Ferdon, the city’s executive director of administration and community development, said that after receiving the city’s approval, the agreement will go to Columbus Regional Health for final signatures.
There has been no agreement for the past three months because preparation of the four-year-extension was slowed down by the COVID-19 virus, Ferdon said.
A key provision in the agreement calls for the hospital’s EMS service to provide 911 emergency ambulances and, in some cases, personnel at Columbus Fire Station 1 at 11th and Washington, Station 5 on Goeller Court, Columbus Township Fire and Rescue on Repp Drive and at the hospital’s EMS headquarters on Central Avenue.
These ambulances and EMS personnel will respond whenever they are dispatched by the Bartholomew County Emergency Operations 911 Center, the agreement states.
In return, the city agrees to provide certain equipment, facilities and assistance, including lodgings and other amenities for CRH emergency medical technicians at Fire Stations 1 and 5, the agreement states. It was emphasized Monday that tax money will not be used for payment of any services.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
