JACKSON TO GET FULL-TIME AMBULANCE

JACKSON, Mo. -- Getting to a late-night or early-morning emergency at the Procter & Gamble plant takes an ambulance 16 to 18 minutes. Within the next six weeks, that time will be reduced by nine or 10 minutes. Late-night and early-morning response time within the city of Jackson and in the western part of Cape Girardeau County also is about to be greatly reduced.

City of Jackson and Cape County Private Ambulance Service officials announced Thursday that an ambulance soon will be stationed at the Jackson Fire Department 24 hours a day.

The ambulance company had stationed a vehicle and crew at the fire department from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., but from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m., the ambulance responded to calls from the company's headquarters on North Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau.

Since Jan. 1, a fourth of the emergency calls for ambulances from Jackson occurred during the hours when no ambulance was present in the city. There have been 119 emergency calls for ambulances in Jackson since Jan. 1.

Coverage area increased

Jackson has renovated part of its fire house to accommodate the ambulance company's mixed gender crews. That includes bunk rooms, shower facilities and a storage area. Fire Chief Brad Golden said the department needed to make the changes after hiring its first woman firefighter in January. She is employed on a part-time basis.

The city is not paying the ambulance service for the increased coverage.

Chuck Groshong, the ambulance company's operations manager, said the decision to station the ambulance at Jackson full-time was not financially driven but recognizes the growth occurring in the western part of the county.

"We're expanding to satisfy a need and to respond to changes in the county," he said.

The company has hired three emergency medical technicians and a paramedic to provide the staffing.

The announcement was made at a press conference Thursday morning at the fire department. Mayor Paul Sander, Mayor Pro Tem Kerry Hoffman, Golden and Groshong spoke. County commissioners Larry Bock and Joe Gambill also were present.

The speakers said the change is a major improvement both for the western side of Cape Girardeau County and for Jackson.

"This is a proud day for Jackson," Sander said, noting that Jackson is the fastest-growing community in Southeast Missouri. "This will make our community a safer place to live."

Getting an ambulance stationed at Jackson full-time has been a priority since he became mayor, he said.

The heightened service comes after improvements that began in the mid-1990s when the company began stationing an ambulance in Jackson eight hours a day. Two years ago, the ambulance began staying in Jackson 12 hours a day.

After Golden was hired as fire chief in 1998, Jackson firefighters began receiving emergency medical service training and assumed the first-responder job from the police department.

"This is raising the standard," Groshong said.