Prompt Ambulance Service has opened a Porter County base to be closer to planned new medical facilities there.

The Highland-based company is staffing five ambulances out of two buildings on eight acres at U.S. 6 near Ind. 149, Prompt Ambulance owner Gary Miller said.

The company's expansion into Porter County follows news of possible new hospitals and a free-standing emergency room in the area.

"We look forward to working with the new hospitals and health facilities in Porter and LaPorte" counties, Miller said.

The Porter hospital system has proposed building a $210 million, 225-bed hospital at U.S. 6 and Ind. 49, to replace the existing hospital near downtown Valparaiso.

South Bend-based Memorial Hospital and Health System last year announced plans for a 100-bed hospital at Ind. 49 and Burlington Beach Road in Valparaiso.

Memorial said last month it is rethinking its financial plan for the proposed new hospital.

St. Anthony Memorial Hospital in Michigan City has plans to expand its services into Porter County with a free standing emergency room at Ind. 49 and Indian Boundary Road.

Prompt Ambulance had been serving Porter County from its Merrillville location, Miller said.

"What we were finding is that we were getting more and more requests to go out to Porter County," he said.

"We purchased the Valparaiso location to serve our current needs and to prepare for the future needs of this location," Miller said.

Opening the Porter County base created 30 new jobs, Miller said.

The company eventually could raze one of the existing building at the Porter County base and construct a new facility, Miller said.

The company, in business for 75 years in Lake County, operates a fleet of 52 ambulances and 18 wheelchair cars.