Contract approved with CARE Ambulance

By Andy Hallman, The Union

The Jefferson County Ambulance Service Agency Board (JCASA) has completed its evaluation of candidates to provide ambulance coverage in Jefferson County. JCASA awarded the contract to CARE Ambulance, LLC, based in Iowa City.

The length of the agreement is three years. CARE Ambulance will begin to provide emergency 911 and transfer ambulance service on Oct. 1, 2020, taking over for Midwest Ambulance, based in Grinnell.

Julie Greeson, Jefferson County Health Center Board Member, who also sits on the JCASA board, said, 'We are happy to have a new partnership with CARE Ambulance. We believe they will be a good partner in providing this essential service for our communities.”

The ambulance board consists of one representative of the health center (Greeson), a representative of Jefferson County (Supervisor Lee Dimmitt) and a representative of the city of Fairfield (City council member Paul Gandy). Among the three board members, some of the criteria that was used in making decisions included, quality of care, cost of the service, service provider experience, and staffing ability.

JCASA board member Lee Dimmitt remarked, 'Our ultimate goal is to provide our communities with rapid response, quality care, and professional emergency medical services.”

One difference in this agreement from the current is who will own the ambulances. With the new agreement, JCASA will purchase two ambulances and CARE Ambulance will provide a third. JCASA board member Paul Gandy noted, 'Owning the ambulances provides JCASA more control over the quality of the ambulances and the equipment within them.”

The cost of maintaining the ambulances will be shared between JCASA and CARE Ambulance. The JCASA is a partnership between Jefferson County, City of Fairfield, and Jefferson County Health Center.

The city of Fairfield put in a bid to run the ambulance service, and even budgeted an additional 40 cents per $1,000 valuation for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, assuming it would need the revenue to take on the new service. Ultimately, the ambulance board opted to contract with CARE Ambulance, and the city of Fairfield later amended its budget to remove the property tax increase intended for the ambulance service.