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Bracken County EMS prepares for move
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By SCOTT WARTMAN-Staff Writer
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BROOKSVILLE - Bracken County EMS will soon have more space for ambulances, supplies and personnel as it prepares to move into a new building on Bladeston Drive in Brooks-ville.
The EMS plans on moving into the new, more spacious building next month, EMS Director Betty McClana-han said. The building, the former site of the Wood Lumber Company, was bought in October by the Bracken County EMS Board for $60,000. Over the last two months, McClanahan said, renovations have taken place to get the building in shape for its new tenant.
The total budget for the project is $80,000, said EMS Board Member Vicki Willman. The money is funded solely out of the EMS budget, she said.
The service EMS has needed space for over two years, said Willman.
The current facility can only house one of the four ambulances in its care and has only enough room to store the essentials, Willman said. One is housed in Augusta, one is housed in the EMS building, one in the Brooksville Fire Department building and the fourth is parked in the county barn in Brooksville. Willman said the addition of the fourth ambulance from Robertson County, turned over to Bracken EMS to compensate for its service to parts of the county, did not prompt the building's purchase.
For the last two years, Willman said Bracken County knew it would need to upgrade its facility. Officials originally thought they would have to purchase a building to meet the need, she said, but jumped at the chance to buy the lumber building when it became available. Constructing a building from scratch would have inflated the budget exponentially, she said.
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| A Bracken County ambulance sits in front of the former Wood Lumber Company building Tuesday that the service plans to move into next month. Bob Warner/Staff |
"There is just not that much available in town," Willman said. "We wanted something that is sturdy, has easy access to the highway and large enough yet still fits in the budget."
Willman said there was no other option but to move out of the current building on Miami Street.
"It is just a little, small building," Willman said. "We basically were out of space."
The current building consists of one main meeting room, cabinets and a garage for one ambulance, said EMT Bryan Harrison. While there is room to store what supplies are needed, Harrison said finding the supplies isn't always easy among the clutter.
"A lot of stuff is put in boxes and shoved under desks, where you got to find what you need," Harrison said. "Everything is just crammed together."
With the present facility, Willman said medical records are stored at the bookkeeper's home. By April, new revisions to the federal Health Insurance Portability and Account-ability Act of 1996 will make such storage illegal, mandating that patient records be locked behind two doors on the premises to protect privacy. Willman said the new building will have a special bookkeeper's room to accommodate these regulations.
The most important aspect will be the ability to house two ambulances in a heated atmosphere, Harrison said. Currently, all ambulances are housed in the frigid winter temperatures, he said, making it hard on the vehicles and the patients getting into the cold vehicles.
The new building will house offices for both the director and the bookkeeper in addition to having bathrooms and a kitchen, all of which the current building is lacking.
McClanahan said the new building will be a lot more comfortable for the EMTs.
"The EMTs have a better place to stay," McClanahan said. "Nobody liked to stay in that little building."
Initially, the building will house two ambulances, but Willman said there will be room to expand if there is a need to house more. |
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