Wood County Commissioners Jim Hamric, Jimmy Colombo and Blair Couch discuss options as Wood County Administrator Marty Seufer listens as county officials are planning to meet with representatives of WVU Medicine Camden Clark at 10 a.m. Monday, July 6 at the Wood County Resiliency Center to discuss funding options to support ambulance service in the area. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG – Wood County officials will be discussing support for Camden Clark’s Ambulance Service at an upcoming meeting in early July.

The Wood County Commission has set a tentative date of 10 a.m. Monday, July 6 at the Wood County Resiliency Center where they plan to meet with officials with WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center and the Camden Clark Ambulance Service to discuss what kind of financial support the county might be able to provide to help fund the ambulance service locally.

Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said he also wanted Wood County 911 Director Dale McEwuen; and Patsy Hardy, chair of the Wood County County Ambulance Authority and Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure at the meeting as well.

“(Camden Clark) will be able to present their case for what they want from us for their ambulance service,” Couch said. “West Virginia State Code said the county commission is in charge of ambulance service.”

Couch was contacted by the hospital leadership late last year in seeking financial support for the ambulance service.

In March 2025, St. Joseph’s Ambulance Service announced it was ceasing operations. Through a variety of efforts, the Camden Clark Ambulance Service was able to provide more coverage to the area and was able to increase its size by around 40 people, hiring many of the people who previously had worked for St. Joseph’s. The county was also able to purchase some of the former St. Joseph’s ambulances for Camden Clark.

Camden Clark has been able to spread out ambulance placements at substations around the area with ambulances stationed at the Wood County 911 Center to better cover Interstate 77 and U.S. 50 as well at a station at the Southgate Center location to better cover the southside. Ambulances are also located in Vienna and Williamstown to allow for a quicker response.

“I think they doing a good job,” said Wood County Commissioner Jim Hamric. “That move has put them close to a lot of things they need to be close to.”

The county commissioners said they will be requesting financial information from the ambulance service and the medical center as well as an amount Camden Clark officials think the county could provide and what that money would go towards.

Couch said the county would look at ways it could fund the request.

They have discussed putting an emergency services levy on the ballot for voters to decide on that would raise a set amount of money with Camden Clark Ambulance getting a portion. Commissioners talked about also providing local volunteer fire departments with funding through such a levy and eliminate the current Wood County Fire Fee as a result.

They also discussed implementing a special district sales tax of up to one percent countywide that would provide funding. If a municipality already has a 7% sales tax, it would go up to 8%.

Commissioner Jimmy Colombo also wanted cost projections of what it would cost the county to start its own ambulance service from the ground up, in case the two sides are not able to work out an agreement.

“What does it take to staff an ambulance service,” he asked adding he felt the cost would be comparable to funding the sheriff’s department with the number of trained personnel, vehicles and equipment.

“We would be talking about a lot of money and I would like to know how much money that would be,” Colombo added. “We might have to go that way if negotiations might fail.

“We need a functional ambulance service that will satisfy our needs and the needs of our residents.”

Sam Scalise, director of Wood County Emergency Services, said Camden Clark has been holding EMT training classes as well as bringing those students out to the Wood County 911 Center to see how it operates and how medical calls are dispatched.

“Camden Clark is working hard to bring people in,” he said. “I believe they are working hard to bring up their staffing numbers and maintain their staffing numbers.”

Couch said he received confirmation Monday afternoon that the Camden Clark officials are planning to attend July 6.

Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com