AMBULANCE SERVICE SWITCHES.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

A national medical transport company based in Colorado has taken over ambulance service in the north county after buying the family-run Wilson Ambulance Service Inc., a company official said Monday.

American Medical Response, one of the nation's largest ambulance companies, has begun replacing Wilson's yellow-and-blue emergency vehicles with red-and-white ambulances.

AMR retained the Wilson employees to maintain familiarization with the area, said Joyce Johnson, contracts and marketing manager for the locally based operation. Herb and Dorothy Wilson of Palmdale, who founded the company in 1959, retired.

Expanded services in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys will be the next step since AMR took over Wilson in December, Johnson said.

AMR hopes to expand Wilson's bicycle program, which gives emergency medical technicians better access in crowded places. The technicians ride into parks and also tend to injured athletes and spectators at sports venues, Johnson said.

The company also hopes to accommodate managed health care programs requiring nonemergency patients to be admitted to specific hospitals, she said.

Wilson's contract with the county was taken over by AMR, which will merge next month with San Diego-based MedTrans. The company will retain the AMR name.

AMR has operations in Northern California as well as in several other states. The company's ambulances transported victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, Johnson said.