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Vidalia leaders discuss town ambulance service
Published Tuesday, May 13, 2008
VIDALIA — Much of the discussion at Tuesday’s meeting of the Vidalia Board of Aldermen centered on ambulance dispatch procedures.
Town attorney Jack McLemore said an incident at board member Ricky Knapp’s dry cleaning business showed a need for change.
McLemore said it took 27 minutes for an ambulance to respond to the incident.
McLemore explained once a 911 call is placed it is routed to the appropriate ambulance service.
However, several weeks ago, Knapp called the American Medical Response service from Natchez to come to his business in Vidalia when Metro Ambulance did not respond quickly enough in his mind.
“Luckily it was not a life or death situation,” Knapp said.
The employee had dislocated her shoulder and was in a great deal of pain, Knapp said.
Mayor Hyram Copeland asked that board member Vernon Stevens and Fire Chief Jack Langston collaborate on a system that would better serve Vidalia’s residents in need of an ambulance.
While the cause for the late ambulance seemed only to be a delay, Copeland said he was confident about the town’s ability to rectify the problem.
In other news, McLemore said the land agreement between the town and the Recreation District No. 3, agreed upon on Monday, should be signed as early as today.
On Monday the deal was not signed because the recreation district’s attorney was not present.
Copeland said he was excited to see the future development of the land meant for a recreational development.
Board members also passed a motion to refuse bids for the purchase of a new garbage truck.
The decision was made when it was learned that it would be less expensive to lease a garbage truck instead.
By leasing the truck the town is not responsible for maintenance and will be able to lease a new truck every two to three years.
Comments
Posted by rushinghjr (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 12:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Vidalia and Concordia Parish needs to consider Acadian Ambulance, Inc. , Corporate Headquarters and location out of Lafayette, Louisiana. It could also flank over to Adams County and Natchez. At present, it is the largest rural ambulance service in the United States!
Posted by saywhat (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 5:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Acadian is awesome. You see them everywhere.
Posted by ronaldjane (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 6:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why was an alternate ambulance service requested, when the Town of Vidalia, Louisiana, already has an existing, operating, and capable ambulance service?
Posted by fire39212 (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 6:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They were to slow ronaldjane...
Posted by notfooled (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 7:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The town does have an awesome ambulance service, but, I believe in this instance, the town ambulance was involved in another call prior to this call, and could not respond until done with transporting the patient they already had.....when this happens, 911 dispatches the call to another existing ambulance service. The complaint isn't against Vidalia's ambulance service, but the next ambulance service in line to take the relief call when Vidalia's is busy.
Posted by tessa (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
911 DOES NOT DISPATCH BACKUP AMBULANCES FOR VIDALIA AMBULANCE THEY DISPATCH THE BACKUP THEMSELVES.IF THEIR TRUCK IS UNAVAVIABLE VIDALIA FIRE USUALLY DISPATCHES METRO.....
Posted by jack (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
we need one good ambulance company
Posted by Cursechez (anonymous) on May 14, 2008 at 12:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Acadian won't move into an area it can't get a virtual monopoly on. Baton Rouge is an exception because they get contracted for non-emergency transport services and emergency call overflow from the city.
They already looked at Concordia Parish years ago and determined there were too many competing services in the area and the service volume (potential profit) didn't warrant buying out the competing services.
They tried it over in Natchitoches, buying out a local service, and lost their butt - it was a money pit.
Posted by cherron (anonymous) on May 15, 2008 at 12:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
the reason the ambulance service was too slow might be from all the other non life threating calls, just an idea.
Posted by tigerbait17 (anonymous) on May 16, 2008 at 2:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is to add to tessa's comment. If someone would say something to the board about how jack only involves his friends in the instance we might be able to stop this nonsince. I know Jim and he is a good guy but it should not be up to jack langston to decide who's pockets to put my money in. Me personaly don't care wich ambulance service comes when I call but make sure it is the one that I don't have to wait on for an hour. If metro is backed up call AMR or if AMR is backed up call Metro they all worked at the same company before Jim opened Metro they all have the same qualifications. There is no since in calling just your buddies when someone needs and ambulance and I promice that is what is going on. This will continue until the mayor finaly puts his foot down.
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