SONCO Ambulance to service northern Ontonagon County
By Brad Soroka
Monday, August 24, 2009 at 6:14 p.m.
Read more: Local, Health, Business, Community, Ontonagun County, SONCO Ambulance, EMS, 911, Beacon Ambulance
ONTONAGON COUNTY -- Parts of Ontonagon County will soon have a new ambulance service.
The county's northern five townships--Ontonagon, Rockland, Greenland, Carp Lake and Bohemia--risked losing ambulance service altogether when Beacon Ambulance announced they'd stop serving the area, but the community pulled together and found an answer.
"We have asked SONCO EMS from the southern part of Ontonagon County to expand their service area to the five northern townships," said Heather Burgess, Aspirus Hospital VP of Patient Care Services.
SONCO agreed.
"We scrambled to get pagers, radios--the radio install is being done right now--the ambulance is here. In a very short time period, with the communities' overwhelming support, we've been able to pull it together," said Jackie Strauch, SONCO North End Manager.
This is just a temporary fix. All involved parties are still working towards a permanent solution.
The service switch is taking place August 31 at midnight, and SONCO says they're confident that it will be a smooth transition.
This SONCO expansion will not, in any way, affect ambulance service in the southern townships of Ontonagon County.
