Fulton County ambulance service transitions to Parkview EMS

As of today, Parkview EMS officially replaces Lutheran EMS as Fulton County's ambulance service provider. Lutheran has provided the service for nearly nine years, but withdrew from negotiations to continue on with the county.

The transition to the Parkview team, and a return to having three ambulances stationed in the county, was to occur during morning shift changes at 6 a.m in Kewanna and 7 a.m. in Rochester and Akron. 

With a lease agreement still in place between the city of Rochester and Lutheran, it'll take some time before Parkview can fully move in at the fire station. A similar issue exists in Kewanna, with a full move-in slated to occur there by Aug. 1. 

As it stands, Parkview will partially station in Rochester out of a hangar at the Fulton County Airport. 

Written notice to terminate that lease agreement for the fire station has been given to Lutheran by Rochester Mayor Trent Odell, however, officials say Lutheran plans to stick around with a mobile intensive care unit, MICU, at the station.

"Whether it's going to be 180 days or next month, I don't know. It's in their hands," Odell said of Lutheran. "If they want to pull out early because there's no need to continue, that's in their right to do so, and it's also in their right to stick around until the end of the year."

Lutheran will continue to pay the city rent on a monthly basis if it wishes to operate a MICU out of the fire station.  

MICU services are generally used to transport from a hospital to hospital setting. Nonetheless, the critical care vehicle could respond to emergency scenes when the need arises. 

Lutheran's unit would take a regional approach, able to service Woodlawn Health, as well as hospitals in Winamac, Logansport, Plymouth and as far up as Porter. 

Rochester's new fire chief, TJ Dubois, is tasked with determining how best to accommodate Parkview as Lutheran remains at the station. 

"We're going to house some of their stuff here, as we can, as much as we can," he said, noting some of the fire department's equipment has been moved to a hangar at the airport. "That has opened up space to allow Parkview to at least put a rig in here."

He added Parkview may operate the first couple of days from the airport, as there are computer and radio system details yet to be ironed out at the station. 

"Right now, the biggest project is getting this ambulance service transitioned over," Dubois said. "We've been working with them for the last week to make sure they have everything they need in-house here to get what they need accomplished."

To pay for the new ambulance service, the Fulton County Council has approved an income tax rate increase of 0.2 percent. The measure, allowed by legislation passed last year, is expected to generate roughly $1 million a year to go exclusively toward emergency medical services. 

Parkview's contract is $600,000 this year, $1.2 million for 2025 and 26 each and $950,000 for 2027. Additionally, the county is to pay up to $1.2 million for any capital equipment purchased in the first 18 months. That equipment goes to the county if the contract is terminated early.

Parkview is to provide a chase truck and three ambulances stationed in Rochester, Kewanna and Akron – a return to previous staffing levels. In a contentious move, Lutheran had pulled an ambulance from Akron, one of three in the county, roughly two years ago.

The county has specified that there be at least two paramedics in the county at all times.

Commissioners President Bryan Lewis said he was happy to hear that Parkview had hired on a few of the Lutheran EMTs.

"The Lutheran people who were running the ambulance service are good people, and we'll still have good people on the ground," he said. "I'm excited. I think it should go off without a hitch. Knock on wood."