Mo. County`s EMS Breaks Ground on New Headquarters
June 07--Buchanan County EMS will start construction of a new facility on Frederick Avenue Tuesday. The approximately 10,000 square-foot building is set to be completed early next year.
Wallace Patrick, director of Buchanan County EMS, said the new facility, which will serve as headquarters for Buchanan County EMS, will improve service to the community.
"This is going to be a great opportunity for us to provide even greater service to the county -- give us a new facility so we can do more training on site, we can protect our assets, our rigs, by keeping them indoors when they're not out on the street," Patrick said. "So, it's going to be a great asset to the county as well as EMS service."
Area officials and Buchanan County EMS staff celebrated the project with a groundbreaking ceremony Monday morning at the site for the future facility, across from Meierhoffer Funeral Home on Frederick.
Harry Roberts, presiding commissioner for Buchanan County said the new facility will be efficient.
"We've known ever since the REMSA became non-connected with Mosaic that there was going to have to be a headquarters," Roberts said. "We are actually starting to get the headquarters. It's strategically placed."
The building will allow for ongoing training and some ambulances will dispatch out of the facility. Everything flows through the headquarters, Roberts said.
"Those ambulances come in, teams are exchanged out and then they go back out to location," Roberts said.
Patrick said the location of the facility is logistically a good move. The location has easy access to 36 Highway and the traffic flow on Frederick Avenue.
"It's all based on logistics: How can we get the ambulances out to the areas that are needed the quickest," Patrick said. "We have three stations within the city to provide coverage to the county."
Buchanan County EMS has a location on South 10th and one off of Alabama.
E.L. Crawford General Contractors and Creal Clark and Seifert Architects and Engineers are working the project. Patrick said the project has received a significant amount of community support.
The facility also will be available to the community as a space to hold CPR classes, Patrick said.
Area residents will see some other changes at Buchanan County EMS, including a new color scheme on its ambulances. They will transition to the color scheme of their logo.
"We're definitely going to be recognizable anywhere we go as Buchanan County EMS," Patrick said.
Patrick said the community also will see more of Buchanan County EMS staff at public events and on the street.
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