Edgecombe to open two new EMS stations

Edgecombe County residents will receive extra emergency service manpower with the creation of new facilities.

County officials and Edgecombe County Rescue Squad officials broke ground Tuesday on the construction of two EMS facilities in Pinetops and Whitakers. Both facilities will allow each region to have its own paramedic coverage.

Edgecombe County Rescue Squad currently handles emergency services for the southern portion of the county. The new Whitakers location will take over emergency services for the county’s northern region, which Nash County EMS currently handles.

The locations are more than 30 miles apart, with the Pinetops location on Pinetops-Crisp Road and Whitakers station on Seven Bridges Road. Construction started two weeks ago and officials slated both to finish by February 2010.

The construction is primarily funded through U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development loans and grants. The county’s rescue squad received two low-interest loans of $1.7 million and more than $100,000 in economic impact initiative grants from the USDA. Both stations will include two bays with the capacity to hold four emergency response vehicles.

Emergency Services Chief Karen Johnson said county officials originally were interested in situating the Whitakers EMS facility on Wells Road, which Johnson said was the estimated midpoint between Battleboro and Whitakers. The county was unable to find property for purchase in that area, prompting them to go with the Seven Bridges Road location.

The new locations are expected to lower the rescue squad’s average response times, Johnson said.

“Hopefully, this will relieve confusion within and give hurt residents a better chance of survival,” Johnson said.

The groundbreaking comes on the heels of years of criticism in regards to EMS service quality.

In 2007, The EMSSTAR Group conducted a review of the county’s emergency services after residents complained about the lack of emergency coverage in largely rural areas.

One problem the company cited was the county’s lack of a guiding plan and county-run management system for emergency services. Recommendations of a countywide EMS system have been suggested but have enacted because of the high costs of salaries and maintenance.

“It takes much money to do those type of things,” Johnson said. “We’ve found ways to work around some of those issues. Right now, we have to take baby steps.”

Edgecombe County EMS, a nonprofit organization, receives $300,000 from the county for its annual appropriation. Johnson said the rescue squad will hire six full-time employees and purchase two new emergency response vehicles for its Whitakers location.

Whitakers resident Kimberly Page said the EMS facility down the road from her would allow a hurt victim extra time for survival.

“Those extra minutes is all it takes,” Page said. “Many lives will be saved because of this.”

Page said she began talking with county officials about the need of a Whitakers facility after her father died. In 1995, her father died from a heart attack. She said it took Stony Creek EMS an hour to respond.

“This will give so many other patients hope for survival,” Johnson said. “If one life is saved, then this will do some good.”