"Who ya gonna call?" Buffalo area loses ambulance service

An ambulance is something you hope you never need, but you certainly want it available if you do have a medical emergency. Unfortunately, local residents will soon find themselves facing a big problem, unless something is done. As of April 7, Palestine Regional will be pulling their ambulance service out of the area, which includes Buffalo, the Flo area and Oakwood.

Thirteen years ago there were volunteer ambulance services throughout the county. At that time Buffalo decided to go with Palestine Regional for volunteer ambulance services. Other areas in the county made selections as well, and over the years since all other communities in Leon County have established Emergency Services Districts (ESD's) to fund services in their areas through taxes.

Palestine Regional has served the area for 13 years without financial assistance. They have maintained a staffed ambulance in the area for free, except for what they have collected -- and typically only one-third to one-half of ambulance runs are collected. Recently, however, the ambulance service has been made a separate corporation from the hospital, and as an individual entity it will not be able to absorb those losses. Not able to make a profit, they are simply withdrawing their service to this area.

Judge Byron Ryder expounded on the situation prior to Commissioners Court on Monday: "Those people have tried twice to pass an Emergency Services District. Now we have no infrastructure in place, no money in place, no people trained. It's a bad situation. The fire departments have done a good job of trying to promote an ESD. Last time it lost by only 13 votes -- but it lost. "

There is no quick fix in sight. There is a specified timeline to get a proposition for a new vote on the ESD -- and even if voters DO pass an ESD, the funds would not become available until the next year's taxes are collected.

Judge Ryder suggested, "Not having a hospital in our area, the ambulance is the lifeline to the hospital. We're going to need ideas -- from Chambers, cities, fire departments, etc."