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Sanilac EMS, operated by McKenzie Memorial Hospital, will provide service to two villages and three townships, with an ambulance based in Carsonville, said William Noelke, supervisor of Sanilac Township.

Local officials met with the hospital on Monday to finalize the arrangement, said Noelke.

The three-month trial arrangement will provide ambulance service for the villages of Carsonville and Port Sanilac, and Sanilac, Bridgehampton and Washington townships. The hospital will not charge the governmental units, he said.

"We're excited," Noelke stated.

Noelke said the proposal is to base the ambulance in the Carsonville Fire Hall, which is set up for an ambulance with quarters for the EMS staff because Sanilac EMS was located there in the past.

"The idea is for it to spend some of the day in the village (of Port Sanilac), at the harbor or the village hall during the day," Noelke added.

The plan is to base the ambulance in Carsonville from 6 a.m. Fridays through 12 p.m. Sunday nights, and from Mondays through Thursdays to staff it from 6:30 a.m. through 12 p.m.

"That would leave a 6-and-a-half hour gap from midnight to 6 a.m., which is a minimal time for runs. You are looking at the runs downtime," he explained.

"We'll see how it goes, we may have to adjust the hours and tinker with it. The idea is to get an ambulance seen, get it out and about," Noelke stated.

The ambulance will be staffed with one paid EMT and one volunteer. They also need to work out how the volunteer will be compensated.

"At least we got it as far as Carsonville," said Noelke.

The village and township would really like the ambulance based along the lakeshore, which is where the majority of the runs are. It takes an ambulance 20 minutes to get to the lakeshore from Sandusky or Deckerville, which is where the Sanilac EMS ambulances are based.

Since the Sanilac EMS withdrew from Carsonville for economic reasons several years ago, the area has been served by the Sanilac and Croswell EMS units.

However, the Croswell EMS is trying to form an ambulance authority to serve the southeastern portion of the county because the city wants to end its subsidy of the EMS.

When Sanilac Township officials announced they would not join the authority, the director told the 911 coordinator not to dispatch Croswell EMS to Sanilac Township any more. Director Jeff Dawson said the township had not been paying the EMS bill so the city administrator told Dawson not to provide the service.