Local Fire Districts End Contract With City of Highland Ambulance Services April 30

by Stephanie Malench

MADISON COUNTY — On April 18, St. Jacob, Marine, Grantfork, Highland-Pierron, and St. Rose fire protection districts announced that when their current contract expires on April 30, they will no longer be contracting with the City of Highland for ambulance and EMT services.

Beginning May 1, the five districts will initially contract for six months with RuralMed EMS while the fire districts continue the process of establishing a new ambulance district. The time frame for incorporating the new ambulance district is unknown because it must go through the State of Illinois for approval.

The decision to create a separate district was “not made casually but with hundreds of hours of thought and planning along with a recognition that ‘what has always been’ should be reevaluated regularly in all circumstances” according to the joint letter to the residents of the five fire protection districts. Each individual district will always make it their duty to ensure their residents receive quality emergency care. The change will be continuously reviewed and adjusted as needed to guarantee success and fiscal responsibility.

A staffed RuralMed EMS ambulance will be stationed at the Highland-Pierron firehouse on Iberg Road in Highland. This centralized location will minimize any changes in response times from what residents of each district currently receive. When that ambulance is dispatched, ambulances will begin moving into the area as available from other locations in the area, including Mitchell, Pontoon Beach, or Bond County. RuralMed EMS has an ALS (All Life Services) quick response vehicle at their transfer base in Swansea that can provide all life saving services except transportation to a hospital as well as four trucks that can be dispatched as command centers for major catastrophes.

Leadership from the five fire protection districts are grateful for the skill and professionalism the Emergency Medical Technicians with the City of Highland have provided over the many years the districts have contracted with the City of Highland. Highland City Manager Chris Conrad told the Times-Tribune “It was just a financial decision. Everyone is interested in trying to keep costs as low as possible for their taxpayers, and unfortunately Highland EMS is more expensive than some of the other options that are out there for the districts.”

Jeremiah Campbell, EMS Chief for RuralMed EMS for the past four years, describes the forthcoming changes as a “win-win” for citizens in all fire protection districts involved.

RuralMed EMS was established as a nonprofit ambulance service in July of 2016 by Ethan and Kim Bouser and Scott Casolari and is headquartered in St. Elmo. RuralMed EMS assists smaller fire protection districts from Madison County to Effingham County.