LAWRENCE COUNTY - DECEEMBER 1, 2022 - The Lawrence County 911 board is expected to get the first look and vote on the proposed ambulance contract with IU Lifeline Ambulance Service for 911 service.
The meeting is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Lawrence County Sheriff's Department.
IU Lifeline Ambulance has contracts in Brown County at $500,000 and Orange County at an estimated $260,000.
The proposal for Lawrence County 911 ambulance service is $400,000 for one year to provide one advanced life support ambulance, two basic life support ambulances, and one squad with a paramedic.
According to Kelly Mullis, IU Lifeline, the hospital will also have a dedicated ambulance to the hospital for transfers.
Lawrence County has never had an ambulance service contract for 911 ambulance service, leaving the county on several occasions over the last several years without any ambulances. Response times in the City of Bedford, City of Mitchell and county residents waiting as long as 45 minutes for ambulance.
Lawrence County has been served by two ambulance services for several years, and most recently by IU Lifeline and Seals Ambulance.
IU Lifeline and Seals only had contracts with their respective hospitals for inter-facility transfers.
On some occasions the Bedford Police Department has transported patients to the hospital in their police cars due to extended response times.
In October 2022, an air ambulance arrived before a ground ambulance at a traffic accident on Brown Station Road with two patients seriously injured in that car crash.
Seals ambulance service will be leaving December 16, 2022, along with the closure of St. Vincent Dunn Hospital. This has left Lawrence County residents equally as concerned for ambulance coverage.
The Shawswick Township Volunteer Fire Department will be going into service January 1, 2023, and it is not known how that service will be utilized if IU Lifeline has no ambulance available, and with the primary contract for ambulance service in the county.
The Shawswick Volunteer Fire Department Ambulance will not be compensated by Lawrence County for ambulance service but could potentially be used on several times due to lack of coverage.
There are still several questions that will not need to be addressed and how the ambulances will be located in the county.
Lawrence County Zephyr will try and update this story when more information becomes available.
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