Perry County Ambulance Service ahead of schedule, calls are increasing, officials say

Perry County Ambulance Service is about four months ahead of schedule, according to Commissioners Albert Turner Jr. and Brett Harrison.

They said they learned this when the ambulance service gave their report at the Perry County Hospital Board meeting on Jan. 30.

Harrison said Perry County Ambulance Service is set up as a nonprofit, but the goal is for the service to become self-sustaining. Harrison projected in July that would take at least a year. However, after the Hospital Board meeting, Harrison said the service is well on its way to becoming self-sustaining.

He said the number of calls is up, so “our collections from private (payers) and insurance payments are up.” But he said the ambulance service must go through a lot of red tape to get payments from Medicare.

Turner said people have confidence in the system. “They know now when they call 911, an ambulance will come,” Turner said. Harrison agreed. “We’ve gotten a lot more calls,” Harrison said. “They got 70 something calls this last month. Before they averaged about 40.”

Because of the increased demand, the service has purchased a third ambulance. Harrison said the county owns two of the ambulances and rents one. Turner added that these are state-of-the-art ambulances, each staffed with a paramedic.

The ambulance service will add a “day truck” that can help nursing home patients get to doctor appointments as well as to dialysis, according to Turner. He also said it’s his goal to have an ambulance stationed in Uniontown by the end of 2024, reducing travel time to calls from that area.

An important next step to improving the healthcare in Perry County is to build a “Critical Care Unit,” according to Turner. He said he will ask the County Commission to apply for grants to purchase land for such a unit.

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“After talking with the Governor (Kay Ivey), it’s going to be important that we have something (in the way of a medical facility) inside the county to keep up our relationship with the Department of Corrections,” Turner said. DOC operates a detention facility on Highway 80 in Perry County. Currently the ambulance service has agreements with Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma and Whitfield Regional Hospital in Demopolis.

Turner said, “When you receive the money we receive from the state in lieu of the payment of taxes, the state wants to see that money enhance the quality of life for the people of Perry County and enhance the business community that supports the industry (the detention facility) the state put in our county.”

Having “a critical care access hospital will be imperative to attracting industry,” and Turner said existing industry and business have been asking for it.

Harrison said he “doesn’t see Perry County being able to support” a free-standing emergency clinic. Contracts are already in place, and “you can’t set something up that will be competing with the Vaughn or whoever else you have contracts with,” Turner said.

Communications has been a problem in Perry County. Harrison, who is on the E911 board, said that a new communications system will be in operation by summer. “The equipment is purchased, and the building is ready,” Harrison said. The only detail left is getting the proper license for the system.

The new radio system has been tested, and the elevation at its new location in Marion is such that the signal reaches as far as Demopolis, Harrison said.

“You’re putting all your local emergency people in jeopardy by not having good communications to the home base,” Harrison said. “They’re having to use cell phones, and you know how unreliable that can be in Perry County.”

Currently the ambulance service and Sheriff’s Department share frequencies. Under the new system, Harrison said the ambulance service and the Sheriff’s Department will have their own frequencies.