Johnston County Commissioners have approved a franchise for a third EMS medical transport company.
MedEx Medical Transport based in Ahoskie, NC has been in operation since 2010. Commissioners agreed to give MedEx a franchise for non-emergency medical transport services in Johnston County. The Johnston County EMS Advisory Committee supports the additional franchise. Johnston Health also wrote a letter of support for MedEx.
Johnston Ambulance Service (JAS) was the primary EMS medical transport company in Johnston County but they closed last August 31st giving Johnston and other counties they served less than 48 hours notice to find a replacement.
North State and Samaritan Ambulance were granted medical transport franchises last year after the closing of JAS.
Due to the large number of non-emergency transports from nursing homes to doctors offices, dialysis centers and hospital to hospital, the demand for services is high and will only continue to increase. County officials said North State and Samaritan have been excellent to work with, but due to the county’s rapid population growth the third franchise was needed.
Because of the demand, Johnston County EMS, which responds to emergency 911 medical calls, has even been called to transport critical patients from one hospital to another in recent weeks.
Jeff White, a representative of MedEx Medical Transport, told commissioners the company hopes to have a location established in Johnston County within 90 days.
