ALTON - The City of Alton will expand its emergency service delivery model by beginning an ambulance service from the Alton Fire Department on or before April 1, 2017.
Alton Mayor Brant Walker, Alton Fire Chief Bernie Sebold, the Alton City Council and union firefighters all view expanding the emergency service delivery model as a positive move, Sebold said.
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The City of Alton, is continuously striving to meet the needs of its citizens and business owners and this is just another way, Alton Mayor Brant Walker said.
“Our purpose for beginning to provide an ambulance service from the Alton Fire Department is to assist in recovering some of the rising cost of fire and emergency services. We want to avoid being faced with a situation where we need to raise the taxes of our citizens and business owners in order to maintain an adequate level of emergency response,” Mayor Walker said.
Sebold said, "We believe we are currently providing an EMS level of care just from what we do from fire trucks, but we have paramedics and EMTs on staff to treat patients at scenes. We cannot complete the process to an emergency room because we are missing the ambulance component. With this expansion, the Alton Fire Department will now respond to 911 calls with ambulances."
Sebold said another key to the new plan is the Alton Fire Department's ambulances are designated to serve the City of Alton.
The Alton Fire Department already has firefighters licensed as EMT-Paramedics and EMT-Basics that respond to emergency medical calls, they do not transport the patients to the emergency room because they do not have the ambulance to do so.
Two ambulances will be staffed each day, one at Station 1 on 20th St. and one at Station 2 on College Avenue. Each ambulance will be staffed with at least one EMT-Paramedic and one EMT-Basic as required by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
An implementation plan has been developed by the fire department to keep the start date for the service on track.
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