By Erika Hernandez

A group of citizens from Bishop, Driscoll, and Petronila calling themselves the 911 Ambulance Task Force are collecting signatures for a petition in order to form a new emergency district for ambulance service with the same boundaries covered by the fire district.

Voters will decide the issue on the May 2010 ballot city election ballot.

“The 911 Ambulance Task Force is a group of citizens in Emergency Service District 3, which currently only has fire service,” Task Force member Iris Harlan said.

“We feel it is so extremely important to have 911-ambulance service in this district because we have lost some people from our community because they could not receive service fast enough,” she said.

Currently independent ambulance services are dispatched from the surrounding area and there is no immediate response such as in other towns such as Kingsville.

“We have been asked several times about the ambulances seen in Bishop. There are a lot of transport ambulances available, which means if you know in advance that you need an ambulance for instance for dialysis and schedule it for a later time, it is not difficult to find a company to provide that service. However, if it is an emergency, it is very difficult to obtain one in a short period of time. Sometimes they arrive too late and it is a serious matter,” Harlan said.

Once signatures have been collected the Task Force will present their petition to the Nueces County Commissioner’s Court on December 16th. From there once other procedures are approved, the Task Force is hoping the issue gets put on the May 2010 ballot.

“A problem we have is that if our issue is approved in May, the district will not receive any money until late 2010 or early 2011. It is our hope that we can find money from different organizations and individuals in the meantime in order to support this until the tax money is received. We have a few commitments for funds and are desperately looking for other commitments. These funds will be collected by the City of Bishop and are tax deductible,” Harlan said.

“We are asking citizens to please consider a donation, which will help every citizen in Bishop feel secure when they have a serious health issue,” Harlan said.

To sign the petition residents must be a property owner in the district and be registered to vote. Forms can be picked up at the City of Bishop office.