ILLINOIS AMBULANCE SERVICE OPERATES ON DAY-TO-DAY BASIS

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- The Alexander County Ambulance Service is operating on a day-to-day basis.

"We've shut the door on the ambulance service temporarily," said Louis Maze, a member of the Alexander County Board of Commissioners. "The service was operated by volunteers over the weekend. We also had volunteers on duty Monday, but we're on a day-to-day basis now."

The county board met Friday to discuss the ambulance service.

"We're faced with a big deficit," said Maze. "We're out of money."

The county service has been operating on tax surcharge funds from the county's general fund.

"The county doesn't have funds to pay back the deficit or to fund the service," said Maze.

Maze said the county discussed forming an 11-man board to take over the ambulance service.

"We still have the ambulance equipment," said Maze. "We're in the process of forming a volunteer board, which will be appointed by the county."

The Independent Ambulance Service, headquartered at Cairo, is working to help keep the county service going.

"We're trying to work something out," said David Westermann, a Cairo pharmacist who is involved in the Independent Ambulance Service. "We want to keep both services going. We complement each other."