Franklin County Commissioners Court signed an agreement with Hopkins County Hospital District to provide ambulance serve to Franklin County. The agreement comes after an attempt last year to provide the service but, at that time, the commissioners voted to utilize Titus Regional Hospital services. This year, they are choosing Hopkins County EMS. The agreement calls for long term service.
According to Franklin County Judge Scott Lee, the court chose Hopkins County based on what they saw working in Delta County and the financial system in place. Lee stated the fact that an ambulance would be stationed in Mt Vernon to serve the county and would be manned by a team of paramedics who would be there on a 24-hour shift was a selling point. He said the Titus EMS drove over to Franklin County on 12-hour shifts and were not stationed in the county.
Franklin County will be purchasing an ambulance through Hopkins County Hospital District over a 4-year period. “They wanted us,” Lee stated. He said this joins Hopkins, Delta, and Franklin into a unit just as it is a unit in the 8th Judicial District Court. He said it works well for the county.
Since Hopkins County Hospital District, which owns the local EMS service, is a non-profit, Lee stated this would enable the county to break even after payments for services were made.
EMS Director, Brent Smith and shift captains Kevin Hitt, Jeff Sanderson and Danny Wilburn did a presentation of the services EMS can provide to the Franklin County Commissioners on Thursday, July 14th. The commissioners signed a four year contract with Hopkins County EMS. The contract also includes a 2 year automatic renewal. The contract will be effective January 1, 2017.
