By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
A majority of Crawford County will be served by a new ambulance service as the Central Joint Ambulance District awarded its contract to Life Support Team.
The ambulance district board favored the service out of Galion by a unanimous vote at Wednesday night’s meeting. Life Support Team’s bid came with a zero subsidy while LifeStar, the provider for the past 11 years, asked for a $210,000 per year subsidy in its bid.
“It just boiled down to zero subsidy versus $600 some thousand and we cannot justify that,” Board President Ron Miller said. “In government you take the lowest and best bid, no other way to justify it. That is why we bid it every three years.”
“We have been with LifeStar for 11 years, and they have done a fine job, at the end of the day it just came down to nobody has any money, and if somebody is still going to do it for zero . . .” Miller continued.
In the bid Life Support asked for $10.95 per mile compared to $12.90 per mile from LifeStar. For basic runs Life Support’s bid was $565 per run compared to LifeStar’s $568, and for advanced runs Life Support’s bid was $735 compared to LifeStar’s $739.
“This is the first time since the ambulance district has formed that we have been able to deal with a local ambulance company. It is a great benefit that we can keep this in Crawford County,” Miller said.
While the company was formed in April, the group possesses multiple years of experience in the ambulance industry.
“This is a new name, but they are not newcomers. The family formally had Mansfield Ambulance, prior to starting this company,” Miller said.
Jesse Sipes of Bucyrus was introduced as chief operating officer. Sipes who has been in the ambulance industry since 1977 explained that Life Support plans to retain the EMS staff.
“We can’t do without them, I mean they are going to be a vital part of our business, and we are going to need them for our growth to keep going. They know exactly what we need over here, and we definitely plan on hiring them all,” Sipes said. “They have to go through the application process like everyone else, but we have plans on putting them in immediately.”
Life Support Team’s contract will begin on Dec. 1.
The CJAD board discussed the proposed Biddle Street Station at Wednesday night’s meeting. During a recent tour CJAD members noted that backing into the Biddle Street Station could prove difficult with the location of a ditch next to the drive for ambulances to back into the garage.
The possibility of using the location of the former Citizens Bank in Tiro while waiting on Sandusky Township to build a substation was also discussed.
In LifeStar’s report, Corey Wright noted LifeStar received 186 calls for the month of July with an average of six calls per day.
The next CJAD meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Plymouth Street Station in Bucyrus.