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Ambulance service transition smooth in Forsyth County
ambulance
The Forsyth commission approved Roswell-based Central Emergency Medical Services as the new ambulance service for the county Wednesday. Central fielded its first call, a possible medical emergency, on Thursday morning at a McDonald's in west Forsyth. - photo by Jim Dean

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* Forsyth County avoids ambulance service shutdown.

FORSYTH COUNTY — Forsyth County officials said the transition Thursday morning to Central Emergency Medical Service ambulances went smoothly. 

As he watched a Central EMS unit back out after fielding the company’s first call about 10:15 a.m. at the McDonald’s on Canton Highway and Bethelview Road, Fire Division Chief Jason Shivers said things had gone well. 

“The Central EMS units are out running calls, and everything is working the way it should,” he said. 

According to Shivers, Central will provide service using its own units until the familiar red and white ambulances, which the company has bought from Advanced Ambulance, are officially transferred over. 

Once those units have been restocked and the state licenses transferred, they will be branded as Central EMS units, he said.

They will, however, retain the same paint scheme, which was designed in collaboration with the fire department when Advanced started providing the service locally in 2008. 

Central assumed the contract with Forsyth County after Advanced officials said the company could no longer handle it due to financial and other challenges.