Franklin County Loses Ambulance Service

By Sam Poe
Monday, September 15, 2014 | 10:09 AM
https://hbtv.us/news/?story_id=2292

UPDATE: Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service has now decided to stay in business and to serve Franklin County, at least temporarily. The formal contract with Shoals Ambulance has now been verified, and they will provide two top of the line critical care ambulances to Franklin County around the clock. During peak times, more will be sent to the county for additional coverage. Continue to follow developments on this story using the link below. 

During Monday's Franklin County Commission meeting, employees of the Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service  resigned from their positions after the commission did not endorse Pleasant Bay as the sole provider of coverage for Franklin County.  Employees of Pleasant Bay yelled remarks from the back of the meeting room stating, "Good luck," and "Y'all can have it." These reactions followed Probate Judge Barry Moore's reading of the letter of recommendation from Franklin County's EMS Committee listing Shoals Ambulance as the committee's choice.  

For the past 90 days, Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service has been under contract with Franklin County to provide coverage for the county while waiting for a more permanent decision to be made. According to Elzie Malone, owner of Pleasant Bay Ambulance, the company is no longer under any obligation to provide services.  You might also recall that an employee of Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service was arrested for being intoxicated on the job during an emergency transport in August. More information on that story is listed below.

Blake Hargett, Operations Manager for Shoals Ambulance Service, was in attendance at the meeting and immediately made a call for an ambulance to be dispatched to Franklin County to provide emergency service to the county after learning Pleasant Bay would no longer be providing those services. Shoals Ambulance Service will be under contract with Franklin County as soon as the contract is agreed upon by lawyers from both organizations. That is expected to happen as early as Monday afternoon.

Special thanks to our friends at the Franklin County Times for assistance with this story. Please [CLICK HERE] for more information on Monday's decision for ambulance provider, and [CLICK HERE] for information about the arrest of the Pleasant Bay EMT.