Peru Fire Chief reminds residents 911 is for emergencies after SMH closures

Peru Fire Chief Jeff Kings is reminding residents that calling 911 is for real emergencies. This comes as the Peru Ambulance Service has to take people farther away to a hospital because of the closure of the St. Margaret’s Health System. He says if you have a nosebleed or think you hurt your toe, think about getting yourself to a hospital instead of calling 911. Otherwise, King says that everything has been good so far when it comes to getting an ambulance somewhere on time. He says there are 10 firefighters trained as paramedics, which means they can start to treat someone before an ambulance shows up. However it can take an ambulance about an hour and fifteen minutes to take someone to a hospital, fill out paperwork, and then return to the station.