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DJWH Officials Speak Out At DeWitt County Board Meeting

The Dr. John Warner Hospital was well represented at Thursday night's DeWitt County Board meeting.

Larry Schleicher , IT Manager of the hospital addressed the Board regarding mapping software. Mapping software has become somewhat of a hot topic the past few weeks due to an incident where Clinton Ambulance crews got lost in going to a call at the Warner Library. Schleicher stressed there is no agreement in place between the County and the hospital to use the maps they have provided. In fact, Schleicher states they have had ongoing issues in trying to access the maps provided by the county.

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CEO of the Dr. John Warner Hospital, Earl Sheehy explains the hospital is showing signs of improvement after letting go of the service. He explains their deficit this year versus last year this time is quite significant, and he points to cutting back on ambulance crews as the primary reason for those differences.

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There are many things that concern Sheehy in moving forward. He continues to stress the hospital will work with the new provider, Paramedic Services of Illinois (PSI) in transitioning current hospital equipment over to them. Sheehy explains though, a Clinton City ordinance give the non-profit group, DeWitt County Ambulance Association, first rights to the ambulances, and those rights must be given up the DCAA.

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Sheehy explains if the existing vehicles owned by the hospital are not sold, Sheehy says they will not be giving up their garage space. He says that would leave the ambulances suspect to weather and vandalism. He says the hospital would like to know a firm start date for the new provider to comply with their collective bargaining agreement.

The DeWitt County Board voted Thursday night to approve the recommendation of the DeWitt County Ambulance Advisory committee of PSI to be the new ambulance provider for a majority of DeWitt County.

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