Cities, towns agonize over ambulance contracts
Source: Tom Wyatt, Post-Tribune (IN), Dec. 8, 2005
...... Privatization is just one of several options town leaders will ponder in an effort to get Merrillville EMS out of a $250,000 hole created after functioning in the red for a number of years. But just the idea of privatization has put Merrillville paramedics on edge. If the town outsourced its EMS, the 12 full-time paramedics, as well as office staff, would be out of jobs. Part-time paramedics would have to find work elsewhere. Town officials, though, say they don’t want that to happen. Amid all the hubbub over privatization, they insist it is a last resort.