Ill. FD trustees end new ambulance service after 8 months despite faster response times

LONG CREEK, Ill. — In an emergency response, every minute counts.

For the last eight months, the 452 Long Creek Township residents who needed ambulance service received it in an average of 4.34 minutes, a response time that officials said was much faster than previous figures.

But as of Wednesday, Long Creek residents may again have to wait a few more minutes for potentially lifesaving help to arrive.

Sort of a myth. While in an emergency time is important the vast majority of EMS calls aren’t emergencies. Even if the call came in through 9-1-1.

How many more is “a few?” What was the pre implementation average response time?

While trustees were still huddled in their executive session, a call for service came in at around 9:10 p.m. Within a minute, a Long Creek ambulance rolled out of the station onto southbound Mount Zion Road.

At around 9:16 p.m. , an ambulance from Abbott zoomed past on its way to the same scene. It reportedly arrived there about 10 1/2 minutes after the call came in.

It’s important to note that people other than providers on an ambulance can provide crucial, even life saving care. Some people in EMS don’t like to admit that, but basic and often life saving actions are taught to all sorts of none medical people. CPR and AED use for instance. Bleeding control, of another. It is, as the saying goes, not rocket surgery.

The board initially voted last December to place a measure on the ballot that, if passed, would have established a dedicated tax levy for the ambulance service. But, amid concerns about the increased tax rate and its political viability, the measure was scrapped. As a result, the ambulance is being supported by the existing fire protection district tax levy, which some opponents argue is not legal.

I read this as the people who raved about the ambulance service weren’t so interested in paying more to have a reliable EMS system. Gee, who’d a thunk?

So the board took a shortcut and found out that it’s really expensive to fund an ambulance service without raising taxes.

“You’re going to take money away from the necessary fire protection district levy to fund an elective function without the proper approval of the citizens,” said attorney Jerry Stocks, who raised the issue earlier this year.

In another 2-1 vote earlier in the evening, Stocks was installed as the fire protection district’s new legal counsel.

He has a point, although most won’t want to admit it.

Personally, I’d have tried raising a smaller amount to see if the city could entice Abbott Ambulance to move a unit closer to Long Creek.

Now, this has become a political football with both sides maneuvering to improve their position.

This is quote is from one of the newly appointed board members.

Asked if he was concerned about a potential for increased wait times for emergency services, Thomas, who attended his first meeting as a board trustee that night, said that he’s “never called for an ambulance, so I don’t know.”

“Some people have bad experiences with Abbott, I’ve heard people that have had good experiences,” Thomas said. “I think it’s up to the individuals. There’s good and there’s bad, just like there is with everything.”

To paraphrase Olson Johnson,

Now who can argue with that? I think we’re all indebted to Jon Thomas for clearly stating what needed to be said. I’m particularly glad that these lovely children were here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic politician gibberish, it expressed a courage little seen in this day and age.

The lessons here are that running and EMS service is expensive, you may not make your investment back, people love EMS yet don’t want to pay for it, and finally never trust politicians that don’t care about EMS. Until they need it themselves. Then it’s really important.

Until it isn’t.