Appeal-Democrat
ROCKLIN, Calif. — The Sierra-Sacramento Valley EMS Agency last week unanimously approved a three-year contract extension for Bi-County Ambulance service in Yuba and Sutter counties, officials said.
The agency is a Joint Powers Agency founded in 1975, with the Joint Powers Agency Governing Board including Yuba County Supervisor Don Blaser and Sutter County Supervisor Nick Micheli. Officials said Bi-County Ambulance has been the sole emergency medical services provider in Yuba and Sutter counties since 1980.
“We are proud of our team and the high quality of care that they provide to the Yuba and Sutter County communities,” Alex Bumpus, Bi-County Ambulance president and CEO, said in a statement. “We appreciate the opportunity to continue serving our local communities.”
Officials said Bi-County Ambulance “will continue to be held to a high-standard of service, which includes monitoring response time standards, and various other performance metrics.” Officials said the company’s response time has never fallen out of compliance.
Earlier this year when the Appeal reported on staffing shortages at Bi-County Ambulance and in the emergency medical technician field, the company said ambulance response times were able to remain at around eight minutes.
At the time, Bumpus said that Bi-County Ambulance has attempted to generate more interest in the EMS field by marketing itself at a competitive rate to potential hires. In March, the company was offering paramedics $75,000-95,000 per year plus a $15,000 signing bonus. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median average pay for paramedics as of May 2021 is nearly $47,000 per year and $35,000 per year for EMTs.
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