On Wednesday, city and county officials will be revealing — publicly, for the first time — a new ambulance provider for Owensboro and Daviess County. After months of debate as to which company would take over after Procarent’s Yellow Ambulance announced they would not be renewing their contract for city and county ambulance services in January, it appears officials have made up their minds.
A joint special called meeting of Daviess County Fiscal Court and the Owensboro Board of Commissioners will be held Wednesday at the Daviess County Courthouse at 4 p.m. to hear a first reading of an ordinance approving an emergency medical service and ambulance agreement. According to the meeting agenda released Monday, the City of Owensboro and Daviess County have chosen Mercy Ambulance of Evansville, Inc., also known as American Medical Response of Evansville (AMR) to be the exclusive county-wide provider of emergency ambulance services for the 911 dispatch system.
According to AMR’s website, the company provides 911 emergency services in Evansville, central Indiana and Indianapolis.
“Our commitment as healthcare providers is to keep abreast of the latest medical procedures and practices for our patients and by investing in new technologies to help our customers meet their objectives,” their website reads.
AMR provides interfacility transportation with a fleet of specialty ambulances that cover patient and partners’ needs, basic life support transports for patients requiring continuous medical supervision or monitoring, air ambulances that provide bed-to-bed ground and air ambulance services, as well as managed transportation used for non-emergency medical transportation management.
While the process in securing a new ambulance service has been a bit tumultuous at times, city and county officials remained certain that an agreement would be made before Yellow Ambulance’s contract ran out on July 1.
The decision to use Mercy Ambulance of Evansville’s AMR Ambulance services was decided by City Manager Nate Pagan and Daviess County Judge-Executive Al Mattingly. Owensboro Fire Department Chief Steve Mitchell told Owensboro Times that the main objective for all those involved was to find a provider interested in signing a long-term contract.
“The whole purpose, since day one, is to get a long-term agreement — a 10-year agreement,” Mitchell said. “That’s what we’re striving for.”
