Carthage, IL – An ad hoc group in Hancock County is gathering information to see if private ambulance contractors would bid on providing service.
County board member Joe Stevenson says the goal of the group is to come up with an ambulance plan acceptable both to the county board, which provides funding, and to the fire district ambulance services that have been serving as first responders.
He says one of the biggest obstacles is finding enough trained volunteers.
The county recently centralized its ambulance services. However, residents of the LaHarpe and Nauvoo fire protection districts recently voted to set up their own service.
Some ambulance services have become first-responders-only. Others have personnel qualified to perform advanced life support, but their vehicles or operations were not licensed to do so. The county board levies a tax of 0.3 percent for ambulance support. It has used that both for the central service and to help ambulance districts in some of the smaller towns.