CareMed EMS, an Oxford-based ambulance provider, is set to take over Newton County’s ambulance service at midnight tonight.
Stan Alford, owner of CareMed, said his company would be working closely with Newton County Emergency Management throughout the day Friday to integrate CareMed’s information into the county’s dispatch software.
“We will be the sole ambulance provider by midnight,” he said.
Emergency Management director Brian Taylor said entering all the necessary data into the county’s computers would be an all-hands-on-deck effort. Set to begin the process at 5 p.m., he said he expected the software change would take several hours.
“We’ll be here most of the night,” he said.
CareMed won the bid to provide three ambulances to Newton County in December with a bid of $25,000. The county had previously contracted with LifeCare EMS, which was purchased by PatientCare EMS. That contract was set to expire January 1; however, a one-month extension was negotiated for $5,000 to allow time for the county to get CareMed set up.
CareMed’s contract with Newton County begins 12:01 a.m., February 1.
