Opelousas, LA: Acadian Ambulance has acquired St. Landry EMS, and it's expected to impact St. Landry Parish, especially north of the Parish.
Well, number one, with the acquisition, there will be no loss of service nor a reduction in resources.
Once the announcement was made, some council members were troubled by additional concerns.
" When the other companies got together and wanted to pass an ordinance limiting the services, my question was, well, that is all fine and good, but what do you do for the North end because we don't have services? Typically, I have heard as much as an hour to get a response from an ambulance on the north end," said St. Landry Parish Councilman Harold Taylor.
But Paul Fuselier, Business Development Director for Acadian Ambulance, says the acquisition will change the rural area.
" We will, and we are in the process right now to add some property on the North part of St. Landry parish; there is a lease process that we are going through; we will have a station there with a resource in the northern part of the Parish," said Fuselier.
The new partnership between the two EMS companies will not only include a new station north of the Parish but will acquire 90 percent of St. Landry EMS employees. Acadian will also operate four additional units' strengthing services in St. Landry and Avolleyes parishes.
As for the response times, Fuselier says that it's a challenge they battle with every day, and having shortages doesn't help.
"We try to navigate that every day. Our dispatch center and all the units are monitored. We have a tracking system; we know where they are at. We know where the call is at, so we can combine those things and get the closet unit to the call," said Fuselier.
With the new changes and more staffing on board, Councilman Taylor is a bit more optimistic about the future.
"I think moving a station in the area for LA 10 and US 171 will be a tremendous help to the response times here for the North end of the Parish," said Taylor.
"It just puts us in a much better position to meet the needs of the people," said Fuselier.
Acadian says the new station in North St. Landry will house one unit with several employees. The station is expected to be up and running sometime in early 2024.
If you want to read more about the acquisition, you can click here.
