By Paul Wilcoxen

The Southern Illinoisan

CARTERVILLE — Citing a steady rise in overlapping ambulance calls, the Carterville City Council approved creating a full-time EMT/paramedic position on a new 12-hour day shift with 12 hours on call overnight.

Mayor Brad Robinson told aldermen the change is aimed squarely at response times when a second medical call comes in while the primary crew is already out.

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“From the beginning of this calendar year to present, 32% of the time that the ambulance is out, a second call comes in for another ambulance,” Robinson said.

He explained that the current staffing model has one full-time EMT and one part-time EMT on duty for 24 hours, and that it falls short when two ambulance

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