VIDALIA, La. — Med Express’ re-entry into Concordia Parish will wait until the company sees whether the parish’s Police Jury will grant it an occupational license in its Aug. 14 meeting.

&uot;We’ve already applied for that license from the Concordia Parish School Board, but the Police Jury are actually the ones who will approve it or not,&uot;&160;said Shannon Pennington, public relations director for Med Express.

Following his announcement during the Police Jury’s July 24 meeting that Med Express would be returning, Pennington had said the company would reestablish service in the parish Aug. 4. Med Express had discontinued service in Concordia last Aug. 16.

Meanwhile, Concordia Parish’s Communications District E-911 Board will meet at 5:30 p.m. today in the Police Jury meeting room at the new courthouse. The board will meet to discuss whether to add Med Express to the parish’s 911 rotation, said Sheriff Randy Maxwell.

Maxwell has said that since Med Express left Concordia Parish so hastily last time – telling other parish agencies on a Friday that it would discontinue service that Monday – the board will need some assurance that that will not happen again.

Pennington was not sure as of Tuesday whether a representative of Med Express would attend today’s meeting. Right now, American Medical Response and the Vidalia Fire Department are Concordia Parish’s only ambulance providers, and the latter only serves Vidalia.

When more than one ambulance company serves the parish, the parish’s 911 service assigns calls to the companies on a rotating basis.

Even if an ambulance service is not on the rotation list, a person can still request to be transported by that company, said Maxwell, who serves as president of the E-911 Board.