Ambulance service in Monroe County gets a boost from fire district purchase
Two more ambulances are now available to respond to emergency medical calls in Monroe County.
That will be followed sometime in the coming months with another two, for a total of four, additional ambulances that will be deployed by Monroe County Fire Protection District.
The purchase of the four ambulances was made possible by action of Monroe County government—county commissioners and county councilors. Some of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding that was received by Monroe County was authorized for purchase of ambulances—about a year and a half ago.
It was on Dec. 6, 2022 when Monroe County councilors approved the $1,217,970 appropriation of ARPA money.
MFPD’s deputy chief of EMS and special operations chief Matthew Bright told The B Square that delivery of the second two will come before year’s end.
The delivery of the first two vehicles was celebrated last week on Wednesday (July 17), with a ribbon cutting held at the Monroe County courthouse in downtown Bloomington. Remarks were delivered by Monroe County board of commissioners president Julie Thomas and MFPD battalion chief Jason Allen.
Allen said during his remarks that the two ambulances that have arrived have already been on two runs. MFPD deputy chief of EMS Matthew Bright told The B Square that both calls had been for structure fires—to serve on standby. That’s a common scenario that Bright said MFPD’s new ambulances would serve—on fire calls around the county, which would help alleviate the strain on IU Health’s system.
When IU Health hospital sends an ambulance, it’s off the street for two or three hours, unavailable to respond to other calls, Bright said. Given that an ambulance will be deployed to a structure fire in any case, Bright said the question he asked was: “Why don’t we do that?”
Bright showed The B Square the exterior storage compartment of the ambulance, where the firefighting turnout gear is stored for the two firefighters who staff the vehicle—MFPD firefighters are certified as EMTs.
Allen said that response times for ambulances would always increase, the more burden there is on the system. MFPD’s approach with its ambulances is to serve on reserve status to back up IU Health, which Allen described as doing “a great job of trying to keep everything running.”
According to an IU Health spokesperson, the health care provider’s staffing model for Monroe County 911 is for six ambulances during the day and four ambulances on the overnight shift. IU Health also deploys a paramedic in a quick response, non-transport vehicle 24/7 whenever staffing will allow, according to IU Health.
One Wednesday, Allen also thanked Monroe Hospital for donating EKG monitors for use in the ambulances.
Monroe County board of commissioners president Julie Thomas led off her remarks at last Wednesday’s ribbon cutting ceremony by describing how she sometimes listens to the emergency radio scanner and hears how ambulances from surrounding counties are asked to serve on standby. She remembered hearing a call about somebody on Arlington Road, who was struggling to breathe.
The ambulance to serve that patient had to be called in from Greene County, Thomas said, and it took 22 minutes. Thomas said, “That must have been the longest 22 minutes for that patient. That must have been horrific.” She continued, “And so how do we solve this problem? Well, we solved it by getting a lot of people together, working together.”
During his remarks, Allen talked about where the four new ambulances would be stationed. Allen indicated that the vehicles that have already arrived will be deployed just north and south of the city of Bloomington. At any given time, one will be in service, while the other will be on backup status.
One will be deployed at MFPD Station 22, which is just south of Bloomington, at 3953 South Kennedy Drive near the Kroger store. The other one will be deployed at Station 25 at 5081 North Old State Road 37, which is at the top of a stretch of road known to area cyclists as Firehouse Hill, Allen said.
When they arrive, the next two ambulances will be deployed at Station 29 at the Monroe County airport, and at Station 21, which is near the Lake Monroe dam, Allen said.
