History
Stark Ambulance was originally started as Perry Ambulance in Canton/Perry Township, Ohio in 1970 by Chuck Ellison. In 1975 the company was purchased by John Glutting and the name was changed to Glutting Ambulance for one year. In 1976 the company was purchased by Lee Laubacher and became A1 Laubacher Ambulance Service. The company was then purchased by Ron Cordray and a partner (name not known) in 1979. Shortly thereafter, the unknown partner left the company and Ron brought in a new partner named Roger Baker. Shortly after this, Stark relocated to Massillon on Cherry Road NE.
At this time, Stark Ambulance had one single Chevy Van ambulance. They started with transports for Massillon Fire and Massillon Community Hospital, and helped with some of the area nursing home transports. Employees came from all of the area fire departments, Massillon Community Hospital and Doctors Hospital. Under the ownership of Ron Cordray, and management of Rick Annen, Stark Ambulance expanded to several additional areas:
- Back to Perry Township - 1984
- City of Canton - Late 1980’s
- City of Barberton – 1995
- City of Alliance - 2000
When the Barberton office was opened, the name of the company became "Stark Summit Ambulance". Ron Cordray retired in 2008 and sold the company to a friend and competitor Bob Smith, who ran the company alongside his own Ambulance Service until selling the company to an investment group, called American EMS owned by Bay Capital Investors in 2013.
Bay Capital Investors operated the service until 2020 and due in part to the Covid-19 pandemic, opted to leave the industry, divesting themselves from all EMS holdings.
The assets of the company were sold and "Stark Summit" was quickly reassembled and reopened alongside LifeCare Medical Services by J&C Ambulance Services, Inc, based in North Canton, Ohio and already operating in Stark County.
We were fortunate enough to quickly assemble many of the former employees of the original Stark Summit Ambulance together and you will see their faces in our units today, continuing the high-quality standards the public had been used to when calling upon Stark Summit for services.
Our greatest asset is our highly dedicated workforce of Paramedics, EMTs, Dispatchers, and Medical Billers. We are committed to providing stellar patient care and exceptional customer service to the patients and facilities that we are entrusted to serve.
PLEASE NOTE: This history is as of the best recollection of the parties whom supplied it. Please contact us with any errors, omissions, or additional information, as we would like to get this as correct as humanly possible. Please send an email to our contact page.