By Steve Zabroski
The Times of Northwest Indiana
EAST CHICAGO, Ind. — Few city medics chose to sign up with the private company that assumed responsibility over the weekend for emergency medical services.
When Mayor Anthony Copeland privatized EMS duties by executive order last month, officials with Highland-based Prompt Ambulance Services promised jobs for all of the city’s paramedics and emergency medical technicians. But when the firm took over Saturday morning, only seven of the 34 full- and part-time city medics had traded in their blue Fire Department shirts for Prompt’s red polos — and three of those already were working for Prompt.
“It meant a huge pay cut,” said Corinne Saikin, a five-year department veteran who was the sole EMT to accept a position with Prompt. “As of now, I’m basically making a dollar more than the minimum wage.”
Full Story: Prompt Ambulance takes over East Chicago’s EMS