Lincoln County, N.M. EMS Director Jim Stover Retiring at the End of March

Mention Lincoln County Emergency Medical Services and director Jim Stover's name is bound to be tossed into the conversation.

He has nursed the service through crises, contract changes and the dynamics of mixing paid staff in the population hub of Ruidoso with dedicated volunteers in rural communities.

But at the end of March, Stover will retire after 32 years at the helm.

His parents, the late James "Smoky" and Mable Stover, set the standard of community involvement and Jim Stover followed their example.

The youngest of three children, he was born at the air force base in in Montgomery, Ala., because his parents were in the military. The family traveled as his father was reassigned about every three years, then settled outside of Baltimore, where his father was in the Pentagon when he retired.

After college, Stover joined the military and when he was discharged, became involved with a rural fire service in a town nearby in West Virginia, becoming the chief. He was recruited to be a paramedic, because the governor was giving fire departments ambulances to expand health care.

His wife Carolyn was teaching and his parents lived next door, but one day, Stover read about an opening for an EMS director at a hospital in Ruidoso. Things changed quickly after he and his wife visited Lincoln County. The couple hadn't plan on coming to New Mexico, but they loved Ruidoso immediately and thought the community would be a safe place to raise their children.

"By the time we landed back in Washington, we said, 'The Lord gives you opportunities and this looks like a great place to bring our family.'"

The elder Stovers sold their farm to follow their son.

"We had the only two grandchildren," he said. "My mom and dad always had been community people, helping with Boy Scouts, community service organizations. Dad had a Boy Scout camp in Hawaii named after him that he built while he was there with the military. He had done that everywhere he traveled. He always tried to make a community better."

Early years

Village officials were having problems with their stand-alone EMS service and the county-owned hospital was having issues with the handling of patients in transit, Stover said. Gary Mitchell, hospital board chairman, then administrator Ken Moore and Dr. Roger Beechie worked with village manager Jim Hine and the council in 1982, to come up with an arrangement.

"They said if you help fund (EMS), so that we can do it the right way, the hospital will sign a contract and manage it for you," Stover said. He arrived the next year.

"That's how it was relocated," he said. "Those three gentlemen saw a need in the community to improve the EMS service and move it to an advance life support system that could better help the hospital and the patients."

When he came on board, the service was operating with two ambulances, one showing more than 100,000 miles on its odometer and the other just a quick replacement, and an old suburban from the police K-nine unit with more than 200,000 miles on it.

Part of the agreement was that a mobile home purchased by the village be set up as the EMS station at the hospital. The county at that time operated its own separate EMS with six stations and more than 100 volunteers, mostly basic emergency medical technicians.

The next transition occurred in 1997, when the county experienced problems sustaining their volunteer pool that had dwindled to 20. Two stations were closed, because they couldn't be manned. County officials approached the hospital managed by Presbyterian Healthcare Services, about taking over its EMS as part of the lease of the county hospital.

Initially, Stover reported to two bosses under two contracts. The service operated with 10 ambulances and five stations.

In 2006, because of changes in the structure of the lease between Presbyterian and the county, EMS became part of the Lincoln County Medical Center without contracts. The county agreed to help with capital outlay using a voter approved a special property tax levy and the hospital was responsible for operational and staffing needs. The village turned over its equipment to the hospital and the county EMS took over service for all of the county. Jim Gibson was hospital administrator at the time.

Finally, Stover reported to just one board.

Today, five stations are manned and 12 ambulances respond to calls, as well as a paramedic intercept unit to support rural areas. Out of 40 staff, about 25 are volunteers.

"We have a core group at each of the stations who are very dedicated and some have been there longer than I have," Stover said, "We have some tremendous staff. It's all about taking care of the communities."

About nine are paramedics and 15 intermediates, with the rest basic EMTs.

Retirement time

The Stovers plan to keep their home in Ruidoso, "because our kids want to come here and visit," but decided it was time to spend more time with family.

"My son and his family are living in Nashville, Tenn., and my daughter and her family in Fort Worth, Texas," Stover said. "Carolyn retired from teaching after about 40 years and she's had a lot of fun the past two years visiting them. We think it's about time to spend more time with the grandkids. We want to be able to do things for them and with them, and enjoy them, because grandchildren are very special you realize once you have some. I certainly understand why our parents followed us.

"That was a blessing for them and for us."

"Health care delivery has matured as the needs of the community have changed," Stover said. "I'm always amazed at the level of service that this hospital, considering it is a critical access hospital, provides. It's been a strong partnership between the county and Presbyterian and the local folks on the hospital board, and the citizens who support the mill levy. We've been able to things that many hospital in other rural areas cannot do.

"Everybody who comes here is so dedicated to the community. They move here for its quality of life and they find out its about the quality of the people who live here."

Copyright 2016 - Ruidoso News, N.M.