Sen. Carpenter’s bill to maintain emergency health services in Central Aroostook County becomes law

AUGUSTA —Gov. Janet Mills has signed an emergency bill introduced by Sen. Mike Carpenter, D-Houlton, to maintain an ambulance service in Central Aroostook County. The bill, LD 2050, “An Act To Establish the Central Aroostook County Emergency Medical Services Authority,”  establishes local ambulance services in the towns of Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Hill.

“This is great news,” said Sen. Carpenter. “Just recently, folks from Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Hill thought they would be without emergency ambulance services by April 20. But now, LD 2050 has become law and will go into effect immediately. This speaks to the hard work and integrity of people from the County: If we put our heads together, we can get the job done. Thank you to all the advocates from these three towns for your work on this bill.”

With little notice, the towns of Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Bill learned that they would no longer receive ambulance services through a private company starting in December 2019. As a result, these three towns decided to join forces to create an organization that would give them the authority to provide ambulance services to their communities. These towns were able to delay the end of the private ambulance services until mid-April 2020. LD 2050 will go into effect in time for the towns to never miss coverage.  

LD 2050 is an emergency bill and takes effect immediately upon becoming law.

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