Newton County needing an ambulance may see unfamiliar faces after the first of the year as the county’s ambulance service is switching hands.
In their last regularly scheduled meeting of the year Thursday, Newton County supervisors approved a $25,000 bid from CareMed EMS, also known as Priority Medical Transportation, Inc., to provide ambulance service in 2020.
According to the bid documents, CareMed will provide three 24-hour ALS ambulances for Newton County residents and will offer mutual aid agreements to ambulance services in surrounding counties to assist and be assisted when needed.
Ambulances, according to the bid, will be replaced “at or before 250,000 miles” with the newest vehicles first in line for use. Ambulances owned by the county will serve as back-up vehicles.
Under the county’s current agreement with PatientCare, previously known as LifeCare, the ambulance service dispatches their own trucks. With CareMed, however, the county will be responsible for dispatching the ambulances, a move CareMed says will allow the county to know where ambulances are at all times.
Other perks included in CareMed’s bid include:
• Transporting county prisoners at no cost;
• No out-of-pocket cost to on-duty personnel;
• Standby service for all home football games and civic events; and
• A membership program to help reduce out-of-pocket costs for residents.
Three bids to provide ambulance service to Newton County were received and opened by the Board of Supervisors earlier this month. All three bids were to provide three ALS ambulances for use within the county. PatientCare, which is the county’s current ambulance provider, bid $50,000. ASAP Ambulance, based in Laurel, bid $30,000, and CareMed bid $25,000.
Currently, County Attorney Jason Mangum is working to finalize a contract with CareMed, which will be signed prior to the end of the year. The county’s contract with PatientCare is set to expire Jan. 1, 2020.
