Dear Editor:

There is a controversy in the community focusing on the County Board appointments to the McDonough District Hospital Board and ambulance services. I can see how a change in ambulance service could alarm people. Ambulance service is one of the most visible components of a rural hospital. We can hear them all over town and we all stop in traffic when they are on the road.
When the City Council was approached about taking over the local ambulance service, my first response was “No, that is a hospital service, not a city service. The City had no business being involved. The hospital has always been in charge of ambulances.”
Then I changed my mind.
I did my own research into the hospital industry and how ambulance services were being provided nationally. I listened to and questioned people with expertise in the area: Mayor Inman, with a long law enforcement career, Fire Chief Hyde, City Attorney Petrie. I was at hours of city meetings about the plan for the City and a private company to provide ambulance service. I attended a presentation about the current state of MDH and talked to members of the medical community.
From my research and from listening and asking questions, I learned the following facts:
1. In today’s economy, all hospitals, but especially rural ones, must be as financially efficient as possible to survive.
2. The MDH board has done a meticulous job of reviewing hospital finances and has reduced costs wherever possible. At the same time, MDH’s physical facility was greatly improved and MDH received several national awards.
3. Many hospitals in the US now have outside companies or fire departments providing ambulance services.
4. McDonough County residents will be better served with the new partnership of the Macomb Fire Department and a private ambulance service. Among other things, there will be increased availability of ambulances, a new Quick Response Vehicle, faster response times, and no involuntary layoffs.
5. The City has a full time, 24 hour-a- day fire department, full of people trained and adept at providing emergency help, who have responded to every emergency call for the past seven years with each ambulance crew. Under the new agreement, the City will be reimbursed for the time spent by firefighters responding to calls and the Fire Department will house the ambulances. Macomb’s firefighter/EMT’s and the private company’s paramedics will work and train together, with the actual equipment, instead of just in a classroom.
It was easy for me to have an opinion based on emotion and “the way things have always been”. It took work to make a rational, fact-based decision. I urge the County Board to make a rational, fact-based decision when considering appointments to the hospital board.

Gayle Carper
Fifth Ward Alderman
Macomb City Council