The village of Washingtonville sits in both Columbiana and Mahoning counties, which is causing problems with getting emergency medical services in a timely manner.
Agencies are servicing calls outside their jurisdictions or not even receiving calls for help. “She called back 20 minutes later and they said, ‘We can’t get anybody there, there’s nobody on duty,'” said Washingtonville Mayor Herman Frank.
That is what a 911 dispatcher told Frank’s wife back in November when he suffered a medical emergency. Eventually, a private ambulance needed to be called to take the mayor to a hospital.
This is a problem Washingtonville has been dealing with because it straddles two counties.
“We’re split by Route 14, so one side of the road is Columbiana County and the other side is Mahoning County. So it causes problems on dispatching telephone calls and 911 calls,” said Green Township Fire Chief Todd Baird.