JOSEPHINE COUNTY – American Medical Response in Josephine County has ended its partnership with Mercy Flights.
That means those who are subscribed to the current program with them, called Paramed, will only be receiving coverage for ground transportation starting in July.
According to a Facebook post Wednesday night by Illinois Valley Fire District Chief Dennis Hoke, AMR recently joined REACH Helicopter Airmed Care. By terminating its relationship, customers will no longer receive coverage of emergency air flights to local hospitals.
New Paramed customers will only have ground ambulance services. Current subscribers will be covered by ground and air until July 1. After that, if they would like coverage for emergency flights, they will have to separately subscribe to Mercy Flights.
“We still serve Josephine County. We have been here for 70 years. We are not going anywhere and we will take care of the community and our members,” Tim Jame, Mercy Flight COO, said.
It costs $40,000 to get air transport from the Illinois Valley by Mercy Flights, compared to upwards of $45,000 by reach.
according to chief hoke, mercy flights have 24 hour air transport coverage… reach only covers twelve hours during the day.
We reached out to AMR, but did not receive a response.
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