Southern Clarion County Ambulance Service is asking the community for help to keep the service in business.

Citing a significant decrease in the number of calls and patient transports, the future of the Rimersburg-based ambulance service is uncertain, secretary Kate Hockenberry said.

The organization said call volume began declining during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not recovered.

“We’re not really sure why,” Hockenberry said.

Contributing factors include last year’s closings of the Clarview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and Country Springs Personal Care Home, both located in Sligo; and Shippenville and Clarion healthcare and rehabilitation centers entering into contracts with other ambulance services, she said.

“Especially Clarview. We had a lot of transports and calls from there,” Hockenberry said.

She said there have been some issues with patients not forwarding insurance payments to the service.

Limited payments from Medicare and Medicaid are another issue. Medicare and Medicaid pay 25% of what the service charges. Many elderly people in the service area have those insurances, she said.

“We have to accept it or we don’t get anything,” Hockenberry said.

Southern Clarion County Ambulance Service serves nine municipalities. Most — but not all of them — provide the service with financial support via emergency medical service taxes or separate payments, she said.

The service area encompasses Licking, Madison and Piney townships; Toby, Sligo, Callensburg and Rimersburg boroughs, and parts of Porter and Monroe townships, she said.

The ambulance service has reached out to the county commissioners and state legislators.

“We definitely need the help,” Hockenberry said.

The community is trying to help, she said. Half an Angus beef cow, which was donated by a local farmer, is being raffled over Facebook. The other half was already raffled off, she said. An online fundraiser via “SupportNow” has generated only $58 so far, she said.

The Southern Clarion County Ambulance Service normally operates 24 hours per day, but has been out of service during some shifts due to staff shortages, Hockenberry said.

With three ambulances and a staff of five paramedics, three emergency medical technicians, one advanced emergency medical technician and one ambulance operator, the service runs a day shift and a night shift.

Hockenberry said the service has reduced overtime, is not paying payroll taxes and she and some others have declined their pay so there is enough money to pay the staff. Despite those sacrifices, she said she doesn’t know how long the service can remain afloat.

“I have volunteered lot of time to keep it going. It’s home to me. It’s hard for me to just walk away,” Hockenberry said. “I can’t let it go.”

She said her mother was an EMT, her brother is the service’s operations director and other family members also work there.

“It’s not just a job for us. It’s our life and it has been for along time. We’ll do what we need to keep this going for as along as we can,” Hockenberry said. “I’ve lost a lot of sleep and shed a lot of tears.”