County now has three ambulance stations
There?s a new ambulance station in town and it officially opened last week.
?After two years of planning, and with the mutual benefit of everyone in mind, city and county officials have worked together to help bring about the opening of the third county ambulance station,? Ambulance Service Director George Roberts said in a statement when the station began operations Friday. ?Opening a substation is no easy task. It takes many months of planning to determine the best location based on run data, mapping the area size with its boundaries, communications, dispatch information, and resource and personnel management.?
With the addition of this substation, located on Old Smithville Highway, the Warren County Ambulance Service now consists of three stations.
The main station on Magness Drive covers the northeastern, eastern, and southeastern parts of the county from just west of Rock Island and south into the Northcutt?s Cove area.
The second substation on Engle Drive at Smartt Station, which was established in 2001 and shares space with the volunteer fire department there, covers the southwestern part of the county from Jacksboro and Shelbyville Road and into Viola, and also covers the southeastern part of McMinnville city limits, which includes the high school, the elementary school, and the industrial park.
The new substation Old Smithville Highway, which shares space with McMinnville Fire Station 2, will cover the western and southern parts of McMinnville city limits, and the western and northern parts of the county from Shelbyville Road, Centertown, Blues Hill, Dibrell and the area around Bluff Springs Road and Green Hills Road to just west of Rock Island and up to the county line in those areas.
The new substation received its first call within 45 minutes of its official opening and had two calls in the first 2-1/2 hours of service.
Roberts noted the substations will shave several minutes off response times in their respective areas, which could make all the difference in a life-or-death situation. Roberts added the new substation will also improve safety issues since the ambulance won?t have to negotiate the high-traffic bypass, which includes several traffic lights, to get to accident sites in its zone.
The cooperation of the city and county to provide this improvement in service is a source of pride for county officials.
?I have lived here all my life and worked in the service for many years,? said Roberts. ?Many other people, including commissioners and the county executive, the city aldermen and mayor, along with myself, are extremely happy we could provide this service to the people of the county for their health and well-being.?
Roberts noted concerns have been raised about moving ambulances into substations with the thinking they will not be allowed to go into other parts of the county.
?Warren county EMS is a county service and knows no boundaries of county or city when an emergency occurs. If the ambulance assigned to a particular area, or zone, is on another call, then a unit from another area will respond in its place,? Roberts explained.
Roberts also pointed out these substations were established with no additional cost to the budget and existing crews were moved into them which did not lead to an increase in personnel, but increased the area of efficient coverage.