Emergency responders organizing a combining of ambulance services in Chicora and Petrolia say they will formally become the Karns City Regional Ambulance Service on Aug. 1.

Vern Smith, president of the board managing the new group, said about 26 people will comprise the new nonprofit organization, including a mix of part-time workers and volunteers. The move was needed, members of both borough groups say, due to financial strains and lacking numbers of personnel.

Smith, a long-time emergency medical services worker for the area, estimated the change will save about $75,000 in the first year, as they'll lessen costs of things like workman's compensation and liability insurance. Operating an ambulance these days, Smith said, is an expensive undertaking.

“Medicare and Medicaid are not covering the costs of operating an ambulance,” Smith said.

The two groups started operating in tandem back in April of 2017, according to Michael Turner, Chicora EMS president. That meant shrinking from struggling to operate one ambulance to instead operating one, which flips daily between the two borough's fire departments.

Read the full story in the Butler Eagle.