Boyd County EMS opens new station

Boyd County EMS Press Release

ASHLAND — When you’re having a heart attack, or have been involved in a terrible accident, your life may depend on the fast response of trained emergency service personnel. Having ambulance service stations nearby certainly can impact response time.

Since 1986, Boyd County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has had two stations, one located in downtown Ashland, and one on U.S. Rt. 60 in Summit, with six paramedics staffing three ambulances 24 hours a day. Starting Saturday, July 1st things are going to change. Boyd County EMS is opening its third EMS station in the England Hill Fire Department, on Mayo Trail, Catlettsburg. A large upstairs room has been remodeled, including communications equipment and living quarters for EMS personnel. A fourth ambulance and a crew of two will be stationed there full time. This has created 10 new EMT jobs, bringing the total number of full- and part-time Boyd County EMS employees to 37.

“We will be staffing all three stations 24 hours a day with paramedics, and during our busiest 12 hours of the day we are adding a fourth ambulance staffed with a paramedic and an EMT,” said Tom Adams, incoming director of Boyd County EMS. Adams continued, “With these changes we will be able to cover a great deal of our county faster. In some places like Catlettsburg, England Hill, and Burnaugh, we anticipate cutting some of our response times in half.”

On Saturday morning, July 1, between 10 a.m. and noon, Boyd County EMS will host an open house at the new EMS station at the England Hill Fire Department. Representatives of Boyd County EMS, England Hill Fire Department and several county and government agencies will be there to answer questions. The public is invited to stop by and ask questions, and get a free blood pressure screening.

The opening of the new station was made possible with the help and partnership of the England Hill Fire Department, whose board has provided housing for the ambulance and staff, going as far as remodeling the upstairs of the fire station to accommodate the EMS crews. Marathon Petroleum, Catlettsburg Refinery, furnished the new station, and King’s Daughters Medical Center donated a Medtronic LifePak® 12-lead EKG system for the new ambulance so crews can evaluate patients with chest pain and transmit data to hospital emergency rooms.

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