Carle Arrow Ambulance, the emergency services provider for Carle Foundation Hospital, is set to become the sole ambulance provider for Champaign after a Champaign City Council vote on Tuesday.
The five-year franchise agreement passed with a 7-0 vote and is set to take effect on Nov. 15. In the agreement, Arrow agreed to respond to 911 calls, provide four ambulances to the city, give trainings to new EMTs and pay for all expenses – including an annual franchise fee of $100,000 to the city.
The terms of the agreement are in exchange for Champaign not contracting with another emergency service provider for the next five years.
In an email to The Daily Illini, Laura Nootbaar, communications partner with the public relations team at Carle Health, wrote that Arrow is committed to following the agreement with Champaign and is doing what it can to provide high-quality emergency services.
“For decades, Arrow Ambulance has been a trusted partner in delivering reliable care to the Champaign community,” Nootbaar wrote. “We have a strong understanding of what’s needed to support Champaign’s EMT and response needs after serving this community for so long.”
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
The agreement comes after Advanced Medical Transport, another provider for emergency services in central Illinois, wrote a letter to the council on Aug. 13 stating its plan to terminate its emergency services in Champaign on Nov. 15.
The letter sparked concern over which entity would take over Champaign’s emergency services, especially since Arrow is the current emergency services provider in the city of Urbana.
Vanna Pianfetti, a member of the Champaign City Council, told WCIA that she’s not concerned about Arrow paying the expenses and is confident it will increase its services once the agreement goes into effect.
“I’m not concerned that they will have any less service,” Pianfetti said. “But they actually may increase their service.”
In a statement to The DI, Greg Chance, CEO of AMT’s eastern Illinois branch, wrote that the decision to end its agreement was due to financial issues.
“This difficult but necessary decision follows a comprehensive evaluation of long-term emergency medical services trends and the local evolving healthcare landscape,” Chance wrote. “Despite the dedication and hard work of the AMT East team, EMS agencies are facing increasing financial pressures, making continued operation under the current 9-1-1 response model in the City of Champaign no longer sustainable.”
Josh Bradshaw, community resource manager for AMT, wrote in an email to The DI that the company has had the “honor to serve the citizens of Urbana and Champaign with compassionate prehospital medical care, and we will still be present in the community into the future.”
