AirEvac contract renewed in Hamilton

By Kathryn “Chazz” Hirschfeld
Staff writer
HAMILTON — Among the matters conducted during the Hamilton City Council’s Monday, Feb. 5, meeting was the approval for the renewal of the city’s Municipal Site Plan membership with AirMedCare Network.
The city will pay $24,041 for emergency air transport for its residents for a coverage period beginning on March 3, 2024, until March 3, 2025, when the contract expires again.
“This is for our citizens in Hamilton that need an emergency helicopter ride to the hospital,” Hamilton Mayor Bob Page explained.
“We can get Air-Evac through this contract for all our citizens, and they will call the helicopter for you to take you to an outlying hospital, should an emergency arise.
“This is a perk the city does. We pay more than $24,000 a year for this contact, which is not available (for new municipal memberships at this same price) today. If we didn’t renew it, we couldn’t get it back, so we’re going to keep it.”
Councilor Wade Williams made the motion to renew the contract. The mayor noted, “I think this started during your administration.”
Williams replied, “We were the first city to do this, and others followed. But not
everybody kept it. Once you get out, you can’t get back in.”
The mayor clarified later the city’s plan covers residents living inside the city limits only. The contract initiated a decade ago was only offered in this manner, and so is the only way the city can continue the contract, the mayor noted. Persons living outside the city limits can purchase a personal plan for themselves and their families.