Effective Monday (April 9), Lakeville and surrounding Union Township no longer have ambulance service for their residents.
It’s the latest result of a feud between neighboring townships.
Union-North Ambulance Service Chief John Lampkins broke the news Friday on Facebook. Effective Monday, after five decades, the nonprofit would end service to Lakeville and Union Township. Lampkins said the ambulance service will now only focus on North Township and LaPaz.
Lampkins didn’t give much detail in the post, pointing only to “recent decisions by Union Township and North Township regarding the ownership of the two ambulances and to pursue different options for emergency-service providers.”
Union Township Trustee Kelly Carrico says friction between the Union and North townships started last year when North started talks with LaPaz to form a new fire territory, which they approved in March.
The two townships have each agreed to take one ambulance. Carrico says Union Township plans to staff its own ambulance once it gets its ambulance equipped. Until then, South Bend Fire Department will cover Lakeville and the township with an ambulance out of its York Road station, eight miles away from Lakeville.
For now Carrico says residents are in good hands with South Bend medics.
“Let me just reiterate there's no fear here," Carrico said. "They are ALS, meaning they are an all life-support service, so they can take a patient in cardiac arrest, priority one and two, and stabilize them further."
