Volunteers Endorse Medical Care Tax for N.M. County

Oct. 14--Hours of dedication and training lie behind the title of Lincoln County Emergency Medical Services.

While the ambulance service stationed at the Lincoln County Medical Center in Ruidoso employs a full-time staff of 16 emergency medical technicians or paramedics with six ambulances, the EMS outposts in Carrizozo, Capitan, Hondo and Corona depend on from 20 to 25 people who juggle two lives, their day jobs and the emergency medical responses that sometimes trigger their pagers at 3 a.m. Those volunteers, who are paid only for time spent on their runs, say they hope county voters are willing in this year's general election to continue for the next eight years the 3 mill special property tax levy that helps support the operations of the county hospital in Ruidoso, the emergency medical services and the county's four rural health care clinics.

Kevin Kennedy, who's been with the Lincoln County EMS based in Capitan 10 years as a paid volunteer, said supporting the renewal of a special property tax levy is "a no brainer."

"(The 3 mill levy) doesn't increase our taxes from what I understand, so it's kind of a no brainer to me," Kennedy said. "The hospital is operating efficiently and provides the services the county actually needs. It is so important to keep our equipment up and the training we get, not only us, but the nurses and doctors. I consider it a plus for the county."

Besides responding to emergency calls at all times of day or night, the EMS personnel and its director Jim Stover give plenty back to the community, Kennedy pointed out. "We do all sorts of standbys, all the football games, rodeos, the bike race, and (the ambulance service) doesn't make any money on it, because they don't charge," Kennedy said. "Stover puts us out there to assist the community. Sometimes on the Fourth of July, we have two crews with ambulances there, one to cover the outskirts of town and one to cover the rodeo. That's the thing about Stover, he'll put us out there without a question of the money involved. My hat's off to the man for taking care of the community like he does."

Kennedy said he worked many years overseas and when he left the oil fields and moved back to Lincoln County, "I wanted something I could do to help the community. I joined the fire department first and then I went to school to be an (emergency medical technician)."

He's a deputy sheriff by day and said Sheriff Robert Shepperd sees the value of Kennedy going on medical calls while waiting for an ambulance, doing what he can to stabilize a patient.

"I worked for the Capitan Police Department for a lot of years and I was on call a lot, but on my days off, I answered calls from EMS," Kennedy said. "It's a total commitment, is what it is. If you're not committed, that's a problem. You're lying there at 2 a.m. sleeping and the tones go off. It wakes your wife up too."

Capitan has two ambulances and about five volunteer EMTs, he said, adding, "We're recruiting trying to get a couple more on."

To retain his license, Kennedy said he must complete 35 hours of continuing education every two years. "Because we have such long transport times, we're trained in keeping people secure for the hour or two-hour trip to the hospital," he said.

The Baptist preacher

Hayden Smith, 56, is a Baptist minister when he's not responding to ambulance calls.

"I started the (EMT) class in September 25 years ago, then I got my license in 1990," he said. "My full-time job is being the Baptist preacher in Carrizozo. When I moved here, one of my church members was an EMT. It just seemed to work well with helping people."

His station also has two ambulances. "We used to be fully capable of having plenty of staff to run two, but lately, we're not able to staff two very often," Smith said. "It's not very often when need to, but like everything else, when you need it, you need it. Everybody has a full-time job somewhere and they cover the ambulance on their days off. It's kind of hard when you're putting in a 10-hour day somewhere and you come home at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. and then you have a three-hour ambulance run and you have to be back at work in the morning, it makes it pretty tough."

One of the things that keeps him going is the gratitude from patients, Smith said.

"When you go to somebody and they're hurting, whether it from a car wreck or some kind of illness, and you show up on scene, they look up and one of the first things they say is, 'Thank God you're here,'" he said. "Even if they are not a religious person, that's still their response. They just feel better seeing that ambulance and somebody getting out of it, and then knowing you are able to help somebody, It's very rewarding."

His wife is used to the interruptions in their personal life and his two children are in college.

"My daughter is determined to become a paramedic, so I guess it hasn't negatively affected her," Smith said. "When she told me she was going to become a paramedic, I said, 'You're crazy. How many times did you cry when I left?'"

While the EMTs usually run with the ambulances from their communities, if other areas need someone and he's close, Smith might find himself riding on a Hondo or Capitan ambulance.

"The mill levy keeps us running with excellent equipment, whether it's new ambulances or up-to-date equipment or training," Smith said.

"New Mexico is considered a rural EMS state with about an hour trip in many counties to get to a hospital, he said. "New Mexico EMTs are trained with more skills than the average EMT in the nation and we're allowed to perform higher level of skills," he said. "That means more training and more equipment, but Stover is good. As soon as a new skill comes up, he gets the equipment and gets us trained on it, because it's all about patient care. If it is something that's going to help the patients, it's something we need to do."

Smith said he receives three hours of training every month in his local community. During the annual EMT conference in Ruidoso, the service pays the volunteers' tuition and fees to attend. "We are very fortunate we never have to leave our county to get our training," he said.

Smith said he needs more volunteers. "Monday through Thursday, I'm the only EMT in Carrizozo usually," he said, Another volunteer lives about 20 miles north of town and can't always respond. "At 1 a.m. today, we were called out and he came down," Smith said, "I appreciate his commitment. Otherwise, the patient and I would be waiting an hour for someone from Ruidoso to help. Without the volunteers in the county, there would not be ambulance service in our communities. It would not be financially possible."

He estimated the cost of employing people to cover the rural areas would run a minimum of $13,440 per week.

"We have excellent cooperation with Lincoln County Advanced Life Support in Ruidoso," Smith said. "They have full-time paramedics who often meet us on scene or en route to the hospital and provide a higher level of care for our patients. The cooperation is wonderful and makes a huge difference in patient care."

Copyright 2014 - Ruidoso News, N.M.