When you call 911, your first responders are going to come from Eastern Plumas Health Care Ambulance if you live in its large coverage area that stretches east to west from Scott Road, almost to Hallelujah Junction, all the way to Lee Summit toward Quincy, and North to South almost to the Walker Mine area above Lake Davis, all the way up to the Doyle intersection at Frenchman Lake, and south to little Truckee Summit, halfway to Truckee.
Two EPHC ambulances are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One ambulance is stationed out of the hospital in Portola and the other is stationed out of the Skilled Nursing Facility in Loyalton; together those two geographical locations make almost a perfect circle around the coverage area. EPHC also has mutual aid agreements with ground ambulance services in Quincy, Susanville, Reno, and Truckee, which means that they will help out EPHC Ambulance if needed and vice versa.
Amy Burkhart manages EPHC’s Ambulance team of 28 EMTs and Paramedics. She has twenty-three years of experience providing Emergency Medical Services and has been an Advanced Life Support provider since 2006. She got her start volunteering in fire and then started running medical calls as a first responder. She is drawn to the work because of the excitement, the ability to help people, the ongoing education and learning, and being such an important and integral part of a health care team.
Amy explained, “Going to somebody’s house or being on that accident scene and being the first medical provider that ever touches them and how important that is – if you do your part you will actually save lives. If we are needed, we are needed right then.”
Amy has been in Plumas County since 2007. Her hometown is Rudy, Arkansas but her family has roots in the Susanville area that go back to the 1930s and 40s. She earned her AA in Paramedic Technology from Arkansas Tech University out of Ozark Arkansas in 2006.
Amy highly recommends volunteering for those interested pursuing a career in Emergency Medical Services. “If you don’t know how to get involved, volunteer with your local fire department,” Amy said. “You will run the same calls that we run – we will train you to be an emergency responder – there is always a need.”
Our community is very fortunate to have a team of EMTS and Paramedics working out of EPHC with deep roots in the community and many years of experience. The majority make their permanent home in the area and many were raised here. 7 EMTs have over 10 years of experience, and 6 Paramedics have 20 years or more. This level of knowledge of the area and years in the field is impressive and makes EPHC’s ambulance team highly skilled in making the kind of judgement calls and assessments the work requires. All decisions are based on what’s right and best for the patient, always.
All of EPHCs ambulances are staffed by EMTs and Paramedics — the requirement to be an Advanced Ambulance Life Support Service. 2 EMTS and 2 Paramedics are on call every day and typically work 48-hour shifts. EPHC’s ambulances are equipped to do everything pre-hospital except for critical care – if a patient needs a higher level of care than what EPHC can provide, that’s where Care Flight Air helicopters out of Nervino Airport in Beckwourth come in. It’s 25 minutes to Renown in Reno by helicopter, going the way the crow flies cuts the travel time in half.
Because our area is drawing more people to it, EPHC’s ambulance department is experiencing a higher volume of calls. This time last year, there were an average of 96 calls per month. This year calls are averaging 110 per month. 2023 will see them taking around 1300 calls.
Increased call volume means more wear and tear on the four ambulances in EPHC’s fleet — going such long distances and covering such a large area – each year more than 50,000 miles are put on EPHC’s ambulances, all miles dedicated to the community. Plus, winter weather and rough terrain add wear and tear. And in addition to outgoing calls, EPHC’s ambulance team often brings patients back home from stays in higher level facilities in Reno and Truckee.
This is why the EPHC Foundation is making raising funds for an ambulance remount (replacing the chassis while keeping the existing body) for one of their ambulances a top priority. This is a $228,000 project that directly benefits the health, welfare, and safety of our community. If you would like to make a donation to support the maintenance and expansion of EPHC ambulence services, visit ephc.org/foundation.php.
Submitted by Patty Clawson.
