The Barrow County Department of Fire and Emergency Services announced Friday that the ambulances previously housed at Station 5 at County Line and Station 1 in Statham will return to service.
Med 5 will return to service on Saturday, October 18 and Med 1 will be activated on Saturday, November 1, according to Barrow County Fire and Emergency Services Chief Robert Post.
These units were deactivated due to staffing and as part of a year-long agreement with ProCare, a private EMS transport service. ProCare was utilized to transport non-emergency patients to medical facilities both inside and outside of Barrow County.
The use of ProCare enabled the department’s emergency med units to remain in the county to answer additional calls for emergency service.
“The program was very successful and eliminated our dependence on other jurisdictions to provide med units when our units were tied up on non-emergency transports outside the county,” said Post.
The one year agreement with ProCare began on October 15, 2007 and is scheduled to terminate on October 30, 2008. During the past year, the department has been able to fill several vacant positions including six that were approved by commissioners in the 2008 operating budget.
“This now allows us to place these units back in service to meet the needs of our citizens,” Post said.
