Daviess County Fiscal Court voted Thursday for an ordinance approving an agreement between Mercy Ambulance of Evansville (AMR Ambulance Service) as the ambulance provider for both the county and city. This vote of approval means the final steps can be taken in issuing and signing a contract to bring AMR Ambulance to the local area.
County Attorney Claud Porter said residents shouldn’t notice any differences between current and previous providers starting July 1, when AMR officially takes over for Yellow Ambulance. A slight difference in ambulance color would be the only difference between the two services, Porter said.
Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly was again vocal about Owensboro Health Regional Hospital’s lack of financial contribution in the process of bringing AMR Ambulance on board.
“It’s been a long, drawn-out process,” Mattingly said. “Part of the reason it went on so long is because we were waiting on the hospital to make a decision.”
Mattingly engaged in numerous conversations with Mayor Tom Watson, City Manager Nate Pagan and OHRH President and CEO Greg Strahan, with the hope that Strahan would decide to contribute toward the yearly $150,000 subsidy costs required to sign a contract between local government and AMR. However, that awaited decision was never made by Straham, Mattingly said.
“Not much came out of that meeting,” Mattingly said. “We had to move forward. We were told the middle of March was as far as we could go [to make a decision] and, here we are, in May.”
Mattingly not only believes OHRH should have contributed to the subsidy costs — he believes the hospital should have paid one hundred percent of those subsidy fees.
“I think the hospital’s name should be on this contract. If not as the owner, then as [another party],” Mattingly said. “It was mentioned last meeting that we do a better job of handling the ambulance services than the hospital. We don’t do healthcare — that’s the hospital.”
Although discussions are ongoing between local government entities and OHRH, Mattingly said future talks should be done in a public setting rather than privately.
“I think if you talked to citizens — that hospital isn’t private — It’s public. It’s [the citizens’] hospital,” Mattingly said. “We don’t need our public to be left in the dark.”
