By David Fleet
Editor
Goodrich-On Monday night, the village council voted 5-0 designating Medstar as the preferred ambulance/emergency medical provider. The Genesee County 9-1-1 Consortium is now directed by the village to dispatch Medstar to all requests for ambulance or emergency services within its boundaries.
“This resolution does not mean the Medstar will be the only provider,” said Doug McAbee, village council president. “Only if they are closer.”

According to the resolution, Medstar is the most appropriate available public safety service unit closest to the request for public safety service emanating from within the village.
The village joins Atlas, Richfield and Davison townships along with the City of Davison with similar agreements from MedStar. The southern tier of the county including Fenton and Gaines have also signed agreements. The agreement, which is at no cost to the township, is needed, say officials, to assure faster medical response times to the community. MedStar is a nonprofit agency owned by Ascension-Michigan, Henry Ford Health System, and McLaren Health Care serving 911 communities throughout the state.
In September 2021, the Atlas Township Board of Trustees voted to approve a three-year agreement for preferred ambulance service for 9-1-1 calls.
Due to low call volume, Goodrich and Atlas Township depend on nearby private ambulance services from Grand Blanc and Davison in case of emergency. As a result, response times in emergency situations have been a concern for local officials for many years. An established ambulance service continues to be an issue for the township and village.
Genesee County 9-1-1 recently provided a two-year response time study. According to the report, in 2021 of 32 communities Atlas Township had the 28th slowest response time, while the Village of Goodrich is 31st. Argentine and Genesee townships along with the Village of Goodrich and the Gaines reported slower response times than Atlas Township. Only Argentine Township was slower than Goodrich.