By Brenden Moore
Herald & Review
LONG CREEK, Ill. — In an emergency response, every minute counts.
For the last eight months, the 452 Long Creek Township residents who needed ambulance service received it in an average of 4.34 minutes, a response time that officials said was much faster than previous figures.
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But as of Wednesday, Long Creek residents may again have to wait a few more minutes for potentially lifesaving help to arrive.
The Long Creek Fire Protection District’s board of trustees voted on Monday to terminate the district’s nascent ambulance service, citing legal concerns about the process in which it was created, its financial feasibility and the impact its continued operations would have on Abbott EMS, the private ambulance company that services the City of Decatur and much of Macon County.
The 2-1 vote came after a lengthy closed executive session that served as a middle eight to a raucous three-hour meeting held inside the Long Creek Fire Department’s apparatus bay.
Public comment was heavily slanted in favor of preserving the service, which some residents credited with saving their lives. Others expressing concern for the EMTs and paramedics put out of work by the action.
“If it weren’t for these guys, I wouldn’t be here today,” said Sharon Bilbrey, who said she has dealt with several bouts of sepsis. “They took me out of the house at least twice. I’ve used them five times, and I highly recommend that we keep these people here. They’re excellent.”
‘We don’t like seeing patients die’
Long Creek resident Denny Tangney told those gathered that he’s “lucky to be here” after suffering a heart attack in May. He credits it to the “very fast” service he received from Long Creek EMTs.
“My cardiologist... said that the first people that got to me was very important, and that’s probably what helped me out,” Tangney said.
Jack Cunningham, a Long Creek firefighter for nearly five decades and a fire district trustee until May, told the Herald & Review that the board voted last year to create the service to fill a void in the community. Simply put, response times from Abbott EMS were not good enough, he said.
“We’re trying to protect the citizens of Long Creek is what we were trying to do,” Cunningham said. “We didn’t want to get an ambulance service, but we felt like (we were) kind of forced into the ambulance service because we don’t like seeing patients die because we can’t get them to the hospital.
“And we’ve had many saves because of the quick response in getting them there that Abbott would not have got.”
While trustees were still huddled in their executive session, a call for service came in at around 9:10 p.m. Within a minute, a Long Creek ambulance rolled out of the station onto southbound Mount Zion Road.
At around 9:16 p.m. , an ambulance from Abbott zoomed past on its way to the same scene. It reportedly arrived there about 10 1/2 minutes after the call came in.
Abbott could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Problems hinge on funding
Starting up an ambulance service is expensive. The board last year took out a $300,000 line of credit to purchase two used ambulances and to pay EMT and paramedic salaries. In August, the service reported a surplus of more than $5,000 for the month, but overall remains in the red.
The board initially voted last December to place a measure on the ballot that, if passed, would have established a dedicated tax levy for the ambulance service. But, amid concerns about the increased tax rate and its political viability, the measure was scrapped. As a result, the ambulance is being supported by the existing fire protection district tax levy, which some opponents argue is not legal.
“You’re going to take money away from the necessary fire protection district levy to fund an elective function without the proper approval of the citizens,” said attorney Jerry Stocks, who raised the issue earlier this year.
In another 2-1 vote earlier in the evening, Stocks was installed as the fire protection district’s new legal counsel.
The moves illustrate a swing in the power dynamic on the board that culminated in the ambulance service’s demise. Cunningham earlier this year was replaced on the board by Mark Scranton, a former Mount Zion firefighter. And board president Chris Ballard, who resigned last month, was replaced by Jon Thomas, a former Decatur police officer and former director of the Central Illinois Regional Dispatch Center.
Ballard, speaking during public comment, noted that the two new board members were the only people who argued against the ambulance service at a meeting earlier this year.
“Why the rush? Quite simply, they know that the longer the ambulance service continues, the accounts receivable may confirm what was originally forecast: that the service can indeed cover its cost and maybe even generate a small surplus, particularly after the establishment required a year-long history of Medicare and Medicaid billing to qualify for an increased payment kicker,” Ballard said.
Trustee Chris Schroth, the lone remaining supporter of the ambulance service on the board, was installed as board president at the beginning of the meeting. But, following his dissent on the vote to end the service, he abruptly resigned.
Political dynamics questioned
The board of trustees are not elected, but instead appointed via a vote from the Long Creek Township Board. They are recommended candidates by Long Creek Township Supervisor Kevin Greenfield, who is also the chairman of the Macon County Board.
Long Creek ambulance supporters accused Greenfield of maneuvering behind the scenes to kill the service, which competes with Abbott EMS.
Abbott is the sole provider of ambulance service for the City of Decatur. It assumed coverage in 2022 following the closure of Decatur Ambulance Service. But city-licensed ambulance companies have traditionally covered an area that extends outside city limits and into the rest of Macon County and some surrounding counties.
However, the private service has faced increased competition in recent years. The Hickory Point Fire Protection District began ambulance service in 2023 after voters approved an increased tax levy to pay for it. Long Creek launched its service earlier this year.
Greenfield attended the meeting but did not stay until the end.
Stocks, explaining the reasoning for the service’s termination, acknowledged that Abbott was a factor.
“I understand the emotion if your life is saved by the service they provided,” Stocks told Long Creek residents singing the praises of the ambulance service. “Nothing here is the least critical of their skill set.”
“But the answer is not violating the ordinance law,” he said. “The answer is not skirting the mandates of statute or taking shortcuts. The answer is not putting in jeopardy the ability of a viable private ambulance enterprise that the City of Decatur actually provides darn near gratuitously to the balance of the county.”
Asked if he was concerned about a potential for increased wait times for emergency services, Thomas, who attended his first meeting as a board trustee that night, said that he’s “never called for an ambulance, so I don’t know.”
“Some people have bad experiences with Abbott, I’ve heard people that have had good experiences,” Thomas said. “I think it’s up to the individuals. There’s good and there’s bad, just like there is with everything.”
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