Ambulance Rescue 33 will answer emergency calls in Hopewell starting Sunday

HOPEWELL — Ambulance Rescue 33 will provide ambulance service in the village of Hopewell in Marshall County beginning Sunday morning, its first emergency service obligation since losing certification in September 2012.

“Ambulance Rescue 33 which formerly operated in Chillicothe for over 44 years is proud to announce it will start providing Advanced Life Support Service,” said Rescue 33 attorney Chris Cassidy in a short prepared remark.

On Wednesday, Cassidy deferred comment on the details of the new service to a formal announcement on Friday.

The news release doesn’t specifically state the renewed service is for Hopewell, a small village near Sparland with a population of about 400. An official announcement, however, was posted on the village’s website.

“This makes Hopewell the home base of the first (and currently only) paramedic unit in Marshall County,” the website reads. “Rescue 33 hopes to expand its service area to surrounding townships, but for now will be serving only the village of Hopewell. As of February 1, if you call 9-1-1 for an ambulance, you will get Rescue 33.”

Village Board President Pete Christiansen, like Cassidy, deferred comment to Friday.

According to the Hopewell website, Rescue 33 will provide a rescue squad staffed by paramedics and parked at the Village Hall 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Rescue 33 returns with a staff of 34 paid employees and two ambulance rigs.

“Response times should be within minutes, and, due to fundraising, the cost of the service will be approximately one-third the cost of Advanced Medical Transport’s (the Peoria-based service that took over operation in the city of Chillicothe),” the website reads.

Matthew Jackson, the medical director for the Peoria Area Emergency Medical Services, and Doug Marshall, the agency’s attorney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, the agency that regulates ambulance services, confirmed that Rescue 33 has been certified.

“Rescue 33 is licensed,” the statement read. “The service submitted a new application and was found to meet the requirements for both IDPH and for the Emergency Medical Service System.”

Rescue 33 had its license permanently suspended in September 2012 for repeatedly failing to maintain minimum standards for ambulance services. Peoria-based Advanced Medical Transport of Central Illinois filled the ambulance gap and officially was approved as the city’s ambulance provider by a 5-3 vote of the City Council on July 1, 2013. It has a five-year obligation with AMT.

But the ambulance service never gave up planning for a comeback. In May 2014, the service appeared poised for a return to serve Hopewell and the village of Henry. That fell apart when a mutual aid agreement between Henry and Rescue 33 turned out only to be a letter of support of the ambulance service from Henry Police Chief Steve Maurer, who served as Chillicothe’s police chief for more than three decades.

Friday’s announcement will be in the Hopewell Village Hall.

Scott Hilyard can be reached at 686-3244 or shilyard@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @scotthilyard.