It seems that two out of the three EMS services that are currently operating within Hawkins County, Tennessee will be saved thanks to a vote this past Monday by the Hawkins County commissioners.

The two EMS services that survived the cut are Church Hill EMS and the Hawkins County EMS. They have had their contracts extended for a single year at the end of which they will be evaluated once again and voted on whether they will have their contracts with the county extended for a three-year period which is the max that the commissioners can allow.

To increase efficiency of the EMS services and to better evaluate them the two remaining EMS services are being required to outfit their vehicles with GPS tracking systems. This decision was heavily influenced by an agreement that was reached by the Hawkins County 911 Board of Directors, which is th group that oversees any operations such as the EMS services and other medical response services.

Some concerns have arisen regarding the cost of said installations that are estimated to could roughly 5,000 dollars to install and the monitoring fee could cost 1/5 of that.

The EMS service that did not make the cut was the rarely used Lifeguard Ambulance service.

The GPS installations are expected to be done and in operation by mid summer.