AmeriPro Health To Host Public Meet And Greets On Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27
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AmeriPro Health has been hired to provide ambulance service in Mercer County. The company is accepting applications for staff at their website.
Robert Moore
Herald Staff
[email protected]
Mercer County’s new ambulance service provider, AmeriPro Health, will host community meet and greets on Friday, April 26, and Saturday, April 27, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Mercer County Fiscal Courthouse (207 West Lexington Street).
The events will be the public’s first opportunity to meet the AmeriPro EMS Team, tour the new ambulances servicing the county and learn hands-only CPR.
AmeriPro is also hiring for both full-time and part-time positions. According to a press release, the company is offering leading salaries with generous benefits and perks. including 401K, flexible schedules, health and medical benefits and tuition reimbursement. The new ambulance provider is looking to add staff and is accepting application at their website.
The Mercer County Fiscal Court voted in a special-called meeting last Friday to terminate its agreement with Mercer County Emergency Medical Service and enter into a new agreement with AmeriPro Health to provide ambulance service. AmeriPro will receive $62,917 a month to provide ambulance service, including two ambulances staffed with a paramedic and an EMT or advanced EMT.
The magistrates voted unanimously to enter the three year agreement with AmeriPro, which will go into effect when the previous provider, Raintree Health—which was operating as Mercer EMS—closes. In a Facebook post, Raintress announced they would cease service at noon on Saturday, April 27.
According to Mercer County Judge-Executive Sarah Steele, the county filed to receive a certificate of need—which would allow the county to either negotiate with a new ambulance service provider or to start providing ambulance service themselves—on Jan. 30.
“We’ve been working on this for months,” Steele said.
She said the county began to explore other options due to concerns with the current status of the provider, delays in coverage and relying on other agencies to provide service. The judge said an investigation is still ongoing at the state inspector general’s office, with the earliest possible hearing in August. Normally, obtaining a certificate of need can take up to eight months, Steele said, and the final hearing for that is scheduled for June.
However, Steele said the county has applied for emergency hardship licensure under state law, and they have received notice that the county will get the certificate of need when Raintree closes.
The fiscal court also voted unanimously to enter into an agreement with AmeriPro Health. In a press release, AmeriPro calls itself “a leading provider of patient logistics and last-mile healthcare delivery services.” The company began in the Metro Atlanta area in 2018 with 10 ambulances and has grown to have more than 800 employees with operations across six states, including Indiana and Kentucky.
Joe Rose, the director of operations at AmeriPro Health, was at Friday’s meeting.
“We’re excited to be working with Mercer County,” Rose said. “We’ve already started ramping up operations on our end.”
Rose said AmeriPro can begin as soon as the county receives the certificate of need from the state.
Rose told WLEX that AmeriPro in Mercer County is hiring EMTs or paramedics. Anyone interested can visit ameriprohealth.com/ems-and-medical-transportation-careers for an application.
The current plan is for AmeriPro to operate from an open bay at the Harrodsburg Fire Department. Steele said the long term plan is to house operations within the community.
“We will work out those details when they arrive,” Steele said.
At Friday’s meeting, Steele thanked Boyle and Anderson counties for providing assistance. She said Boyle County will station two trucks locally in Mercer for 24 hours during the transition.
“We are 100 percent covered in our community,” Steele said.
