Seneca County EMS puts first full-time, paid crew on the road Wednesday
Paid personnel expected to supplement and augment volunteer crews across the county
[Tiffin, OH – April 7, 2021] — Seneca County EMS has for the first time put a full-time, paid EMS crew on the road today for a 12-hour shift. Becky McCann and Meredith Boes, who are working out of the Republic EMS station, worked their first shift Wednesday from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. A crew will now be on-duty in the county for four, 12-hour shifts each week in an effort to supplement the volunteers who are doing a great job running EMS calls across the community.
Seneca County Emergency Services Director Ken Majors said the full-time crew will help to augment volunteer staff and help to ease the burden on the dedicated volunteers.
“The 48 hours per week is definitely not a replacement to the volunteers and only serves to ease their burden,” he said. “We hope to be able to transition to 24-hour shifts in the near future to really have an impact in the community. The dedicated volunteers deserve to have a few hours to catch their breaths and know their community remains safe.”
Majors said McCann, who is an EMT-Advanced and Boes, an EMT-Basic, have trained and gone through an orientation process over the past two weeks to prepare to go on duty for the first time Wednesday.
Commissioner Mike Kerschner was excited to see McCann and Boes hit the road this week.
“Countywide EMS has been a discussion topic for more than ten years,” he said. “Each time a decision is made regarding this situation, we are trying to get closer to accomplishing our mission statement. That mission statement is to provide the citizens of Seneca County with a Professional EMS service at the most reasonable cost. This is a continuing obligation to which all other obligations are secondary. Our goal is to respond to all 911 EMS calls for service within 10 minutes in all districts covered by Seneca County EMS.”
Kerschner said putting a full-time crew on the road is a “huge step” toward accomplishing the county’s EMS goals.
Majors said McCann has been a volunteer for Bloomville EMS and more recently, for Bloom-Scipio EMS for 30+years.
“She went to one of the original EMT classes in 1978,” he said. “She is an excellent clinician and has always been a leader in the EMS community in our county.”
Majors said Boes is a recent graduate of Tiffin University with a degree in Forensic Biology. She graduated EMT school while in her senior year at college.
“She has been volunteering with Bloom-Scipio EMS since May 2020,” he said. “She is extremely talented, technically proficient and has a thirst for knowledge.”
Majors complimented Boes’ calm, professional attitude and said he’s confident in the work McCann and Boes can do together to provide excellent patient care in the field.