The GSCEMS department, founded in 1976, was recently honored at the 2019 Kentucky EMS Recognition banquet as agency of the year for their region. The banquet was held by the KY Ambulance Provider Association and it is held every year to honor outstanding EMS departments in the state. The GSCEMS department is a part of Region 5 along with 17 other large counties including Lexington, Frankfort, Danville, and Richmond. The award is an honor to all employees of the department including Director Brandon Remley, Assistant Director Corey Wood, and their 38 full time employees, 6 part time employees, and education coordinator. Considering the sizes of the other counties in the region, the Scott County department is grateful to have received the award this year for the third time. They have received the award in 2013, 2016, and now in 2019.

In order to receive the award, a department outside of their own county must nominate another department and recognize the reasons they are deserving of the award. The major reasons listed for GSCEMS’s nomination were that they are the only agency in the commonwealth to certify all of its employees in Advanced Stroke Life Support and they are the only agency to have instructors from their department to teach that program in the state. They were 1 of 13 ambulance services out of the 183 services in the state to receive the Pediatric Excellence award from the Kentucky Board of EMS. This award recognizes agencies who require more pediatric education and equipment that what is required by state regulations. They were also 1 of 22 out of the 183 agencies in Kentucky to receive the Silver Plus award from the American Heart Association. This award recognizes agencies with excellence in prehospital cardiac care. Also, the education programs ran through the GSCEMS department for all state counties were another contributor for their nomination. GSCEMS values top-notch patient care for all individuals and they work hard to improve the quality of EMS training for all counties through their education programs. They teach agencies all over the state in order to certify quality employees for other agencies as well as for their own department.

A goal the department has to maintain their high reputation is staying on the cutting edge of pre-hospital medicine. They want to budget for nicer ventilators and other advanced equipment to stay on the top of patient care. They will continue to provide antibiotics to trauma patients with open wounds to decrease mortality rate and chances of infection along with only 5 other departments in the state. They want to continue to work closely with all hospitals in the area to ensure immediate, effective care for the individuals in Scott County.

The GSCEMS department would also like to thank the Fiscal Court for assisting them with any needs they might have, supporting their education programs, and for making their innovative pre-hospital care a top priority for the county. Director Remley says that this award belongs to the court members just as much as it belongs to the department.