New ambulance service announced for Selma
Published 3:52 pm Saturday, July 27, 2013
Zack Drake, operations manager and Casey Sears, assistant operations manager showcase one of the NorthStar Emergency Medical Services ambulance vehicles that will soon be servicing Dallas County. –Katie Wood
Dallas County residents in need of medical assistance will soon have options for their ambulance provider as NorthStar Emergency Medical Services, based in Tuscaloosa, will soon be coming to Selma.
While NorthStar EMS is still currently looking for a location to call home in Selma, Casey Sears, NorthStar EMS assistant operations manager, said they should be ready for action within the next few weeks.
Sears said NorthStar EMS is excited about the opportunity to come to Selma and Dallas County and eager to provide their services.
“There is a real need to improve the system down there,” Sears said. “Response times are really low in terms of people waiting to get either transported to another facility or even 911 calls and getting folks to the hospital — that was a real concern of the physicians as well as a lot of folks in the community.”
Sears said they’re not necessarily looking to compete with Dallas County’s current sole ambulance provider, Care Ambulance, but simply noted, “the more resources you have, the better.”
“Ultimately what it means is more resources. The city will have more resources at its disposal to take better care of its patients and the community at large,” Sears said. “The more resources you have the more efficiently you’re going to able to operate an EMS system.”
NorthStar EMS is the largest ambulance provider in the state, servicing multiple counties in Central Alabama including: Fayette, Jefferson, Marion, Pickens, Talladega and Tuscaloosa Counties.
NorthStar EMS provides basic life support, advanced life support, critical care transportation and wheelchair transportation services. They also offer both emergency and non-emergency ambulance services.
Annually, the amblulance provider responds to more than 75,000 emergency and non-emergency calls for service within their coverage area.
NorthStar EMS deploys a fleet of more than 80 ambulances throughout the nine-county Central Alabama area and employs approximately 350 personnel, including support and management staff. NorthStar EMS plans to bring four or five ambulance vehicles to Dallas County.
