New Kent Charles City Chronicle

News for New Kent County and Charles City County, Virginia | March 29, 2024

Charles City receiving 24/7 emergency response service

By Community Member | March 4, 2010 9:54 am

Emergency response service on a 24/7 basis has come to Charles City. County Board of Supervisors members voted unanimously last week to hire an outside agency that will supply emergency workers during times when the county’s all-volunteer staff is not available.

During their Feb. 23 meeting, supervisors authorized a contract with Mechanicsville-based Emergency Training Systems, voting to pay the company $50,000 to cover cost of supplying workers for the remainder of the year. In turn, ETS is to provide EMS personnel that will put in nine-hour days covering five days a week. That service was slated to begin yesterday (Wednesday).

“It took a year to get to this point, but people have worked diligently to get here and I congratulate them for being very dedicated to the job they’re doing,” said District 1 Supervisor Gilbert Smith. “Having service 24/7 will really make a difference to the residents here.”

Charles City Volunteer Fire and EMS Chief Archer Jones Jr. said ETS personnel are filling in at times when the county’s volunteer EMS providers must attend to their fulltime jobs.

“I have 16 volunteer EMS providers trying to cover 7,000 people in the county,” he said. “This will address times when we’re at work.”

With ETS personnel on the job, county officials hope an end has come to frequent complaints from county residents over slow emergency/fire response and sometimes no response at all.

At the board’s January meeting, supervisors received an earful from residents who cited response problems and pleaded with county officials to correct the situation.

ETS owner/president Steve Wood told the board his company has a 23-year track record of providing emergency coverage. His staff, he said, is made up of all part-time professional fire and EMS workers drawn from the Richmond metropolitan area.

“The level of care we provide for the citizens is next to none and the highest possible,” Wood told the board.

Plans, he said, include raising the level of service available to Charles City residents to Advanced Life Support within the next few months.

“That means we’ll be able to bring the hospital to the field,” he added.

Wood said his company could assist with training volunteers already on staff in Charles City.

Jones, meanwhile, said his department is on a continuing mission to recruit more volunteers.