COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – For the second straight quarter, LifeCare Ambulance met response time goals under terms of a three-year contract with Branch County during the final three months of 2025.
The contract calls for response times of 15 minutes or less on 80 percent of emergency or priority one calls. The same percentage applies to 30 minute priority three non-emergency calls.
LifeCare Vice President of Operations Brian Walls told Branch County Commissioners during their work session on Thursday their response time metric during the fourth and final quarter of the year was met on 81-point-24 percent of their emergency calls while the metric was met on 96-point-43 percent of their non-emergency calls.
Walls reported there were 2,472 priority one calls in 2025 along with 1,915 priority three calls. A total of 1,978 emergency calls required transportation while 1,123 non-emergency patients were transported.
LifeCare faces a five percent reduction in quarterly subsidy payments if response time goals are not met. The agreement with the county waives the penalty in cases like extreme weather and system overloads.
LifeCare did not meet the priority one response metrics during the first two quarters of 2025.
The current service contract between LifeCare and Branch County went into effect on January 1, 2025.
In other business on Thursday’s light agenda, the Commissioners voted to move the start time of next Tuesday’s regular meeting from the usual time of 4:30 p.m. to 12noon in order to ensure a quorum will be present.
Commissioners also brought forward a request to schedule the annual free scrap tire event with EGLE for Saturday, October 10. The event will once again be held at the Branch County Jail.
Last year’s drive resulted in Branch County residents filling one-and-a-half semis with scrap tires.
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