By Debbie Manis
Orlando Sentinel
MOUNT DORA, Fla. — Lake-Sumter Emergency Medical Services will dispatch fire calls in the cities of Clermont and Groveland beginning Monday, a new responsibility that means the agency will now handle fire calls for all of Lake County.
Lake-Sumter EMS, funded in part by Lake and Sumter county governments, dispatched 40,000 fire and 48,000 rescue calls during fiscal 2007-08, which ended Sept. 30, spokeswoman Kimberly Stephens said.
Based in Mount Dora, Lake-Sumter EMS is a not-for-profit agency formed in 2000 to provided community-based, emergency medical services throughout the two neighboring counties and The Villages.
The agency operates 27 advanced life support units from stations throughout the region.
Lake-Sumter EMS, which now serves 13 municipalities in Lake County, was chosen recently as EMS Provider of the Year by the Florida Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and received national honors, too.
Jim Judge, executive director of Lake-Sumter EMS, said he expects a seamless transition between his agency’s dispatching services and those previously handled by the cities of Clermont and Groveland.
“It has been a very positive, cooperative effort,” he said.
Christine Show and Stephen Hudak of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.