Washington Fire Assistant Chief EMS Carrie Ornduff shows the unit’s vehicle and equipment.

The City of Washington’s newly formed Emergency Medical Services unit is already off to a busy start.

The service went live at 5 p.m. on July 9th, and Washington Fire Assistant Chief for EMS Carrie Ornduff says they’ve had over 60 calls in three weeks, with anywhere from two to 14 calls a day. Mayor and EMS volunteer Jaron Rosien explains why this service is needed for the city, “The EMS unit for the City of Washington is significant because it has the ability to make a huge difference with the changing patterns of the county ambulance, putting one in the northern side of the county where there’s growth, having one in the City of Washington that potentially while doing transport or responding to another call we could have a gap. The first responder unit responds to bridge that gap and we’re very excited to have it responding to calls.”

Ornduff says she has received nothing but positive feedback so far from the county ambulance service on the work that her roster of 28 people, including volunteer firefighters, have performed. While the EMS doesn’t transport patients, Ornduff shares what responses may include, “We start with first aid, basic assessment, we can do a little bit more of that than EMT level because that’s what we are, an EMT consideration in the state size. So it can be bandaging wounds, it can be splinting fractures, it could actually be administering oxygen, checking glucose, the list goes on and on, quite a bit.”

Ornduff says they are always welcoming additional volunteers for the unit, which require training for an emergency medical responder certification.