MT WASHINGTON, Ky. — People in Mt. Washington will have more access to lifesaving help thanks to a new EMS service added to the Fire Protection District.
Mt. Washington Fire & EMS launched two new ambulances Monday with another emergency vehicle arriving later this year. The service will provide additional assistance to Bullitt County EMS and help speed up response times in medical emergencies in the area.
"Any time a citizen calls 911 whether it’s for police, fire or EMS they want help to arrive as quick as possible," Lt. Colonel Jeremy Rader said. "Not just here locally, but really across the nation there’s a shortage of EMS providers and especially paramedicine."
The department announced the upcoming launch of the new service in Oct. 2020 and said it has been working on the details of the service for years. The primary EMS service responding to the Mt. Washington area used to be Bullitt County, which is stationed in Shepherdsville and is about 15 to 20 minutes away.
"Sometimes you'll wait 30, 45 minutes sometimes you show up as a firefighter...and the next ambulance from Bullitt County is a ways away," Mt. Washington firefighter and resident Stephen Gocke said. "A lot of times those get pulled to Shepherdsville depending on coverage."
The new response time can take less than five minutes within city limits, according to Gocke.
"The high acuity runs, people that are having acute corner syndrome issues, stroke care, people that are unresponsive maybe have respiratory problems – the fire department will still respond to those runs and we'll be there as an added bonus on the EMS side," Rader said.
20 additional workers have been hired to focus solely on the EMS service.
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