The Panora City Council recently approved to enter into a five year agreement with Audubon County Memorial Hospital for healthcare and transportation services. 

Mayor Pat Parker says the Panora Emergency Medical Service has grown recently from a volunteer force to a paid department and now they have the ability to have two crews focus on both 911 and transportation services. He says the cost of running an EMS department has grown but signing this agreement with Audubon County would provide some relief. 

“We’re doing some of these contracts with Audubon County and hopefully Guthrie County that allow us to speed up how often we rotate those ambulances out. So we continue to keep ambulances that are ready to go at 100% of the time for our calls and then keep them staffed with personnel and equipment. The other thing is as we do advanced life support services that cost that equipment that we maintain those ambulances is always going up. So this is the way we can keep the best equipment in our ambulances so we can provide the best service possible to the residents of Guthrie County.”

The city of Panora will receive $120,000 per contact year from Audubon County Memorial Hospital. Also the contract with Panora EMS and the Guthrie County Hospital has been terminated and they are currently negotiating a new agreement for transportation and healthcare services.