County makes change in ambulance contract

Cape Girardeau County will make one change in its contract with Cape County Private Ambulance Service: coverage will no longer include the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport, but the airport will continue to be covered by North Scott County Ambulance District, officials said.

County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Welker told the Cape Girardeau County commissioners at a regular meeting Thursday he had recently spoken with Dr. John Russell, president of CCPA, about removing the airport from the contract.

Welker said historically the airport was in the contract, but since it sits in Scott County, it is not in Cape Girardeau County's jurisdiction.

"Decades ago, Cape County Private Ambulance and the City of Jackson, City of Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, all had (individual) contracts," Welker said.

But when the contracts were consolidated into one contract with Cape Girardeau County, the airport was inadvertently left in, Welker said.

"Since we do not have jurisdiction over the airport, he (Russell) understood we cannot have a contract we don't have jurisdiction over," Welker said.

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy noted CCPA still will respond to mutual aid calls.

Tracy said Cape Girardeau County does not have an ambulance district.

An ambulance district is a tax-supported entity, governed by an elected board.

Cape Girardeau County, in contrast, has a contract that ensures CCPA provides ambulance service and responds to calls county-wide, Tracy said.

Cape Girardeau deputy city manager Molly Mehner said the city does not have to enter into a contract with CCPA because North Scott County Ambulance District already is the primary first responder to any incident at the airport.

CCPA only would be called as backup in the event of a large incident, Mehner said.

According to Southeast Missourian archives, Cape County Private Ambulance Service began operations April 15, 1968. George Rouse of Jackson was the founder.

On March 26, 1968, funeral home operators in Cape Girardeau County announced they were getting out of the business of transporting patients. That had been a common practice in and near Cape Girardeau since 1911, when Martin G. Lorberg brought the first horse-drawn ambulance to town.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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