Bill to fund Pickens County ambulance service moves through legislature
PICKENS CO., Ala. (WBRC) - While Saturday’s tornadoes and storms did plenty of damage across central Alabama, leaders in Pickens County are feeling fortunate there weren’t any injuries in their area.
That’s because they have no open hospitals to treat patients and only one ambulance serving the county.
Carrollton Mayor Mickey Walker says when they saw the expected severity of the storms, a five out of five, all the leaders in Pickens County were extremely anxious and unsure of what they would do if they had widespread injuries.
The storm created some damage around Highway 86. Mayor Walker says this area is only six miles away from their closed hospital and approximately 30 miles from DCH in Tuscaloosa where their ambulance has to take patients.
The mayor says this is what they face every day, storm or not, and if any tragic event happens where they have widespread injuries, he says it could be catastrophic.
“We talked to Montgomery,” he said. “We understand that all rural hospitals are struggling. It’s time to fix them... That’s the number one priority in my book is healthcare for all over Alabama and maintaining our emergency rooms and our hospitals. Several of them have closed down -- what are they gonna do to fix it? Somewhere it’s got to start.”
A bill that just passed the House of Representatives and now heads to the Senate would help fund the ambulance service in Pickens County.
House Bill 378, pending a referendum, would add a $10 fee to each new vehicle registration, transfer, renewal, or replacement tag within the county. Representative Ron Bolton expects the additional fee to generate around $200,000 to fund and expand the ambulance service.
While there is only one operational ambulance right now, ran by Lamar County Ambulance, the Pickens County Commission is introducing a second response vehicle next week.
Representative Bolton says he hopes the additional funds will go toward getting a third ambulance, new equipment, and eventually additional staffing to increase response.
“I just want everybody to understand what we’re doing here is we’re trying to protect the response capabilities to make sure that we’ve got enough medical response to serve everyone and to get them stabilized, to get them to where they need to go in the hospital, and that’s the purpose of this whole initiative here,” said Rep. Ron Bolton.
If the bill passes the House and the Senate, it will then be up for a vote by the people living in Pickens County during the first primary election in 2026.
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