Ambulance to be discussed in Quincy

QUINCY - Quincy and Grant County Fire District 3 officials are meeting to discuss options for ambulance service.

The meeting is at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

The move comes after the Quincy Valley Hospital's commissioners decided to terminate their ambulance service by July 11. The decision was based on the service losing $453,000 in 2010.

The city and fire district are the largest contributors to the ambulance service, with the city donating $100,000 of the about $200,000 given to the hospital for the service.

Mayor Jim Hemberry said the city wants to find a vendor to take over the service.

The meeting is open to the public, but the city won't be taking comments, Hemberry said, adding the city is likely to schedule a special council meeting to take public comment.

Mike Lopez, the EMS section supervisor for the office of community health systems with the state Department of Health (DOH), said the department will have the final approval for the agency taking over service from the hospital, but they want to work with the community to find the service.

"It is a collaborative effort," he said. "We're going to factor (the community) in as we identify the service. We don't want to go in the opposite direction as the community, because in a small community you're going to be hard-pressed to have two agencies."

The hospital presently runs the Advance Life Support service for its trauma response area, Lopez explained. A council determined how many resources are needed to serve each trauma response area, and the DOH approves the service.

"There is a perception that the Department of Health will identify a new ambulance service," he said. "We will identify the trauma-verified service, but that doesn't mean the community can't have three or four licensed services."