Public Comments Due by September 1

By P. Hedlund with F. Durocher

(Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010, 2:13 p.m.) Kern County is the only county in California without a state-approved Emergency Medical Services (EMS) plan regarding ambulance service The Mountain Enterprise was told by the state EMS authority (EMSA) Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Dan Smiley, Chief Deputy Director of the California EMSA and June Iljana, Deputy Director of Policy, Legislation and External Affairs for EMSA said that the exclusive operating areas (EOAs) granted by the Kern County Board of Supervisors to Hall Ambulance Service covering 87 percent of the county’s population without competitive bid, have never been approved by the state, making the county ineligible for shielding from antitrust suits.

The deadline for public input on ambulance service and a state proposal to limit EOAs to 10 years was extended Wednesday to September 1. See www.emsa.ca.gov for details. Send comments to: Tom McGinnis, Transport. Coord., California EMS Authority, 1930-9th Street, Sacramento, CA 95811 or to tom.mcginnis@emsa.ca.gov.

This is part of the February 12, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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