General Info:
Welcome to Laurens County Emergency Medical Services website. I would like to take the opportunity to provide a short synopsis of our department. The department was established on May 1, 1976 to provide more consistent medical care to the citizens of Laurens County and originally began with 1 ambulance providing only basic life support care. Today the system has grown to 4 ALS transport ambulances on-duty 24 hours a day, supplemented by an additional "power shift" ALS transport ambulance from 9: 30AM until 11: 30 PM and 4 Paramedic Quick Response Vehicles responding to almost 13, 000 calls in a 720 square mile service area. As the sole 911 medical provider for the county, LCEMS is a professional career agency operated by Laurens County Council and is overseen by an appointed Director. Additionally, the management team consists of an Assistant Director who oversees all daily operations and the Training and Education Coordinator who is responsible for the department's in-service program, the CQI/QA program, and the over site of the department's Medical Peer Review Committee The department is structured into three 24 hour shifts. Each shift's management team consists of the Shift Captain who is responsible for all shift operations and two Shift Lieutenants who are responsible for direct field operational and clinical oversight along with assigned scheduling duties. To supplement the department's management team there are 2 Senior Paramedics assigned to each shift. These leadership positions are directly responsible for the orientation and training of new employees along with clinical field leadership. Additionally, each of these positions holds adjunct responsibilities as assigned in order to assure the highest quality response and patient care by all field providers. The department values a close working relationship with the local medical community. Our medical control director, Dr. Randall Reinhardt, is a board certified emergency medicine physician with Laurens County Health Care System. Dr. Reinhardt is an active participant in the department's CQI and QA programs, IST program, and in the evaluation of the medical protocols and treatment modalities utilized by the department. As a professional department, we firmly believe in retaining educated employees and many of our employees hold formal degrees. We strongly support any employee who wishes to seek educational advancements both through formal degrees and in EMS related courses by providing both financial incentives and leave benefits. Additionally, we provide our employees with the latest equipment and technology along with progressive standing orders and a competitive salary structure. In addition to the normal 911 response, the department is an active participant in the county's SORT Team. This team provides specialty response resources to the community. The specialties employed within this team are technical rescue, search and rescue, water rescue, tactical medic, and hazardous materials. More details are provided in the Specialty Teams page link. Within the website's different pages you will find additional information about the department's various operations. If you are interested in becoming a part of our organization please see our employment page for information on how to become a valued part of our progressive customer oriented team. Thank you for taking the time to visit our website.