HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Huntsville Hospitals are growing across North Alabama, and they are trying to keep up with the demand of ambulances needed in the area. To help, a merger between the Huntsville Hospital System and Huntsville Emergency Medical Services or HEMSI has now formed.
"I think the initiative was seen by our board and by the organization that the hospital system had several ambulance services that they had acquired through their hospital affiliations, and they were beginning to organize them into a system, and they want to invite us to come and join the system," CEO of HEMSI, Jon Howell shares. "They felt like that a system of service across north Alabama could offer certain benefits. And we looked at that and we agreed our board did eventually that that would be something that would potentially benefit our organization and our patients."
Although they are teaming up, Howell shares there won't be much of a change in operation "there's really not going to be much difference from an outward appearance. We are still going to be HEMSI," Howell shares. "We're still going to have the same color ambulances with the same markings. There may be some changes eventually, but not for the immediate future. We feel like we've developed a strong brand in our community over the last four decades and we're going to maintain that to help continue instilling confidence in our patients."
Patient confidence is a priority and that comes in many ways like patience's choice. "We will honor a patient's choice on where they want to be treated.," Howell explains. "We'll be happy to take them to any facility that's appropriate for their condition and agrees to take them regardless of what the affiliation is with that facility."
The ultimate goal being to "improve health care" for the citizens who require ambulance services, says Howell. "We think that first that we will gain some stability in certain areas from having the much larger organization of Huntsville Hospital health systems behind us and helping us in a capacity of sort of an umbrella organization," Howell shares. " I hope that as we develop those changes, they will be somewhat gradual, but also communicated to not only our employees but our communities and ultimately, it's about providing the best care that we can for the patients that we serve."
