With the couple of letters published in the SILVER WORLD and the talk that’s been around town about the state of Hinsdale County Emergency Medical Service (HC EMS) leadership, I cannot remain silent any longer.
Nearly three years ago, I was given the opportunity to become an ambulance driver for EMS. The first person I met was Buffy Witt. The second person I met was the paramedic she enticed to work in Lake City, Brad Jones.
I then met the rest of the team, fell in love with the work and the system, and relished the sense of providing a needed service. Over two years ago, Buffy stepped down, but left the agency in the capable hands of new leadership, namely EMS Director Katherine Heidt and Chief Paramedic Brad Jones, who created Captain roles to expand the leadership team. In these two years, HC EMS has become a well-oiled machine, able to respond to 911 calls efficiently and effectively, to establish timely Continuous Quality Improvement review, and to define processes and procedures. The state of HC EMS leadership has been strong!
It is precisely due to the leadership of Katherine and Brad that I decided to go further in EMS to support the Hinsdale County community and its visitors by enrolling in the “Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Academy” this term. I was looking forward to graduating next month and having Brad as my mentor this summer in order to become the best EMT I can be. I now know that this isn’t going to happen, as Chief Jones has been forced out of Lake City EMS with personality politics by our commissioners, despite his following EMS professional personnel standards and county policies. This comes right at the start of our busy visitor season!
Our team is strained and in trouble now. If you care about having an ambulance show up from Lake City when you call 911, I urge you to contact the county commissioners to actively work to keep Director Heidt and Captain Humphreys involved as our leadership, or EMS could face our Medical Director having to close the ambulance service altogether – call TODAY !
Lorie Stewart
EMT Student
Lake City
