As the City of Decatur reviews the potential ambulance agencies to provide service to Macon County, the city is also requesting the candidate organizations to also give care to cities right outside the county border, such as Cerro-Gordo in Piatt County and Dalton City in Moultrie County.

The potential agencies include RuralMed EMS, Lakeside EMS, Echo Response EMS, and Abbott/AMR EMS.

City Manager Scot Wrighton said the city wants the company taking over to also service those areas, so the cities raising taxes for residents in order to hire their own ambulance company.

"It will require a referendum for tax increases to support it," Wrighton explained. "There isn't enough calls in those areas to support a stand-alone ambulance company, which is why it would have to be taxed-supported rather than operated under a privatized arrangement like it is now."

In the midst of the request, the city of Decatur will be reviewing each company's coverage plans to determine what agency is best fit to serve the area.

"Each ambulance gives us information about what their likely locations might be, how many trucks they plan to deploy, and other questions about how they plan to operationalize the ambulance here in Decatur," Wrighton shared.

According to the Central Illinois Regional Dispatch Center For Macon County, 8,158 Calls were made for ambulances since the start of this year.

That's an increase from the 8,079 calls in 2021 and 7,040 calls in 2020 around this time of the year.

In Mattoon, the city lost its fire department Emergency Medical Service (EMS) in 2018 to save money.

Another EMS service later left the area leaving only one company to service all of Mattoon and surrounding areas.

After four years, the city reinstated its fire department EMS in April.

Mattoon Fire Chief Jeff Hilligoss said having fewer ambulance services put more pressure on the remaining company.

"Due to the high call volume, they relied on mutual aid from surrounding towns," said Chief Hilligoss.

The city of Decatur intends to have an agency picked by September 1.

But if the chosen agency is not ready by that date, St Mary's Hospital, which owns Decatur Ambulance Service (DAS), will continue providing service during the transition period.

"We are committed to working with our partners to make sure we have coverage at all times," Wrighton added.