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Ambulance Referendum Headed To March Ballot; Big Decision For DeWitt County

The ambulance will now be on the March ballot for DeWitt County to put a levy in place to provide residents west of Route 48 in DeWitt County with an ambulance service.

The County Board approved the measure Monday evening at their regular monthly meeting. The DJWH has announced they will end the service on December 31 of 2012. President of the Hospital Board Randy Workman says the time line was put in place as a cost measure. He says with the ambulance service being a part of the hospitals expenses, because of Medicare and Medicaid payback methods, the hospital has been having to dip into their reserves to pay their bills.

[audio:hospitalambulance1.mp3]A Word From Workman[/audio]

Workman says while the date they have established does not represent a panic time for them to the point where they will close, but he says they are currently concerned with the state of their finances.

As reported yesterday on Regional Radio News, Logan County has faced similar challenges to what DeWitt County faces right now. Workman says to this point,  Logan County has been a big help in working with DeWitt County representatives in showing them the things they did when they were faced with the situation similar to this. Workman says both hospitals and service areas are strikingly similar, which makes modeling a potential DeWitt County solution after what Logan County did makes a lot of sense.

[audio:hospitalambulance2.mp3]A Word From Workman[/audio]

From the beginning, Clinton Mayor Carolyn Peters has been very instrumental in the entire process of finding solutions for DeWitt County residents effected by these changes. Workman applauds her and her hard work and says her background on the Hospital Board certainly makes her well versed on the situation at hand.

[audio:hospitalambulance3.mp3]A Word From Workman[/audio]

Workman stresses for anyone with questions to get in contact with the right people. He says this will be a big decision for residents of the county, and it is important for the voters to understand what is happening.

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