Credit: Instagram @cornelius_fire

Aug. 12. By Dave Vieser. Is a new medical call response system in the works for Cornelius and northern Mecklenburg County? At a recent meeting, the Cornelius Town Board approved a memorandum of understanding to help determine the most efficient future arrangement for medical calls in the town.

The Cornelius Fire Department provides first-responder and emergency medical services through an agreement with Medic, Mecklenburg County’s designated countywide EMS provider.

Town Manager Andrew Grant did not pull any punches about problems with the current setup.

“Due to concerns regarding Medic’s response times to patients, the amount of time the fire department is tied up on nonemergency calls that prevent or slow responses to fire and rescue calls, and the level of funding received from Medic for the first-responder services provided, our town and volunteer fire department have been working with the other municipalities and fire departments in Mecklenburg County to achieve improvement in these areas,” Grant said.

Grant said Cornelius and other municipalities requested that Mecklenburg County conduct a comprehensive third-party EMS study to recommend ways to improve the countywide system, which the county has agreed to do with a third-party consultant.

The memorandum of understanding will extend the Medic study to June 2026, allowing time for recommendations to be considered for the fiscal year 2027 Mecklenburg County budget.

“The town will evaluate the progress being made at each juncture,” Grant said, “and we will report back to the commissioners.”

In the interim, the current agreement with Medic will remain in effect.