CARROLLTON, Ala. (WIAT) — After years of financial struggles and low staffing, things are looking up for the Pickens County Ambulance Service following a recent agreement.
Manager Vicky McCrory says every city and town in the county has agreed to provide funding to help the struggling service.
“I am actually so overjoyed we are getting some much-needed relief,” McCrory said. “I’m also very thankful that everybody that’s worked so hard to get to this point and it can get better from here on out.”
A deal was made amongst the city and town governments in Pickens County to assist in funding the ambulance services. They’ve agreed to help with the shortfall by bringing on sufficient personnel to staff one ambulance 24 hours a day and another 16 hours a day.
Carrollton Mayor Mickey Walker is thrilled to see this new partnership working. Mayors, county commissioners and the legislative delegation met in meetings for months to discuss how this would work.
“I think it’s a great step forward for us and it lets the citizens know we are committed to having ambulance service,” Walker said. “The service has been struggling but all the mayors and county commissioners met together with lots of discussion. We had three different plans and we had to come to an agreement on which plan we could afford.”
McCrory also says she’s excited to finally rebuild her staff. She plans to hire eight new employees including drivers, advanced EMTs, and paramedics. She hopes to have the second ambulance operational and her new staff all in place by April.
