Fayette EMS Director Attends Governor’s Bill Signing

Fayette County EMS Director Josh Vandever was on hand at a ceremony on Sept. 9 when Governor Greg Abbott signed two important healthcare bills into law.

House Bill 18, authored by Representative Gary Van-Deaver and sponsored by Sen. Charles Perry, is the Rural Health Stabilization and Innovation Act. It provides strategic planning and funding to assure sustainability of rural hospitals and clinics.

House Bill 3000, authored by Representatives Ken King and sponsored by Sen. Perry, establishes the Rural Ambulance Service Grant Program, administered by the Comptroller, to provide financial assistance to qualified ambulance providers in rural counties. Vandever along with several other rural EMS leaders had testified in support of HB 3000 earlier this year at the State Capitol. Lawmakers invited him back to Austin for the signing ceremony earlier this month.

Vandever said HB 3000 should provide Fayette County with a $350,000 grant to purchase new ambulances. In County budget discussions earlier this year, Vandever asked the Commissioners Court to increase the rate at which the County replaces its aging ambulances. For many years the County had budgeted for one new ambulance each year. Vandever said the County needs to consider a replacement rate of three new ambulances every two years.

“We need to go to that increased replacement rate just because of mileage and wear and tear on the ambulance fleet,” Vandever said.

St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange closed in October of 2023. With the lack of a local emergency room ever since then, Fayette County residents have relied even more on the EMS service for front-line healthcare. That led to longer ambulance trips and more miles logged by Fayette County EMS crews. In addition, Fayette County EMS recently added a new ambulance station in Round Top to improve coverage in the northern part of the County.

Vandever said lawmakers recognized the need for the State to take some of the burden for providing ambulance services off local taxpayers.

“This kind of assistance has really been helpful,” Vandever said.

Vandever said he and other rural EMS leaders met privately with Rep. VanDever and Sen. Perry after the signing ceremony.

“We had a great talk about property tax relief,” Vandever said. “While we certainly need to achieve property tax relief for Texans, we also need to do it in a way where we’re not interrupting the provision of timely emergency services.”

House Bill 18, which the Governor also signed last Tuesday, creates several hospital grant programs, including one specifically for rural hospitals. This comes at an opportune time for Progressive Health Group (PHG), the Mississippibased company that recently purchased the St. Mark’s property. They intend to reopen the hospital early next year.

The Record spoke with PHG CEO Quentin Whitwell last week about the reopening plans. See the story on Page 1.

“Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and his team (at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services) have just awarded a half a billion dollars to Texas for rural health care,” Vandever said. “That has added to our efforts with the hospital, too.

“We’re working all angles to restore rural health care in Fayette County,” Vandever added. “Hopefully we can make ourselves the model case for bringing rural health care back.”