Athens County Commissioners named the director of the newly formed Athens County Emergency Medical Service Nov. 23.
Corey Lenigar, a resident of Glouster, has served as the EMS director for Greenfield Township Fire Department in Carroll, Ohio since 2006. Lenigar has been a certified EMT and paramedic since 1995.
I am a resident of Glouster and I wanted to come back home to take care of residents where I am from
Lenigar said.
Athens County officials decided to split from the Southeast Ohio Emergency Medical Service Oct. 19, citing the district's miscalculation of yearly revenue that decreased funds for the counties' EMS systems.
(It was becoming) too expensive to deliver services Athens County Commissioner Lenny Eliason said.
SEOEMS, which provided emergency medical service to Athens, Jackson and Lawrence counties for almost 30 years, struggled financially due in part to patient-payment over-projections of almost $300,000 in the 2010 budget.
The district's financial problems also stemmed from late dues and almost $2.3 million in uncollected bills.
Lenigar has about 10 years previous experience working for the SEOEMS, Lenigar said.
The Athens County EMS officially took over emergency medical services for the county Jan. 1, and is using the facilities that were already in existence when Athens was under the jurisdiction of SEOEMS.
There are no drastic changes to location or make up of the stations, Eliason said.
With the new district, emergency response times should be about the same as when the county was a part of SEOEMS, Eliason said, adding that the single-county EMS will be run in an efficient and effective manner.
We have control of how the operation is run instead of being a third of an operation
Eliason said.
SEOEMS will no longer be in existence because both Jackson and Lawrence counties also dropped the service and are creating their own emergency medical services, Eliason said.
As the director of the new district, Lenigar said he plans to make the new EMS more efficient and financially stable than SEOEMS.
We have to look at the finances
streamline and take care of taxpayers money they have graciously given us and stay under budget
Lenigar said.
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Rachel Snively
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