In June 2022, the Jefferson County Commission engaged a consultant to evaluate if the County’s ambulance service “is both cost effective and operationally optimal.” The current operational model is a hybrid of county-paid crews (2 individuals each) on call 24/7 in 4 fire stations (plus an additional county-paid crew on call during the day at a 5th station) using ambulances owned and maintained by the seven volunteer fire and rescue companies in the county. The consultant provided several options to reduce the number of staffed locations and transfer ownership of all of the ambulances to the County. The Fire & Rescue Association (of the 7 volunteer companies) provided additional recommendations to the Commission that proposed various options for ambulance ownership and staffing that would continue volunteer involvement.
At their May 19 meeting, the Commissioners voted unanimously to direct the County Administrator, John Nissel, to develop a plan to create a County Ambulance Service, which would include the County owning and operating all ambulances.
The timeline for the planning process and details of the operational plans (including the number of ambulances) have not yet been determined.
By Staff Contributor