09/24/2026
Great work by our partners down at McCreary County EMS!
I am posting today to give you an example of how a small group of hard-working people can change the community where we live and raise our families.
In 2025, McCreary County Ambulance Service had a total run volume of 4,479 calls. That averages to an incoming call every 1 hour and 57 minutes. These calls ranged in reason from diabetic emergencies, cardiac arrests, MVAs, falls and traumas, seizures, overdoses, allergic reactions, respiratory emergencies, and general illness, just to name a few. The important part of this statement is realizing that every single one of these 4,479 calls represent one of our loved ones.
Not all calls to EMS represent lifesaving work. Sometimes, it may involve helping an elderly resident who has no one else to call. At times, it is non-emergency transportation like taking a nursing home resident for a doctor’s appointment or picking up a patient to take back home after care is rendered because they have no one else to call. Many times, county citizens come to the ambulance base to have their blood pressure or sugar checked to see if transport is needed. Sometimes, they come to base for anxiety and just need assurance. It doesn’t matter what the reason is. Every call is answered because every request for help is a part of serving this community. Our ambulance service responds to them all.
For the last fiscal year of 2026, it cost a total of $3,029,279.59 to fund the ambulance service. Examples of expense are employee wages, health insurance, retirement, worker’s compensation, utilities, uniforms, property and vehicle insurance, medical supplies, maintenance on their building, vehicle repairs, provider tax the state charges on revenue…..”expense” is representative of the entire cost to run the ambulance service. The total amount the county had to contribute towards the expense was approximately $158,103.50.
In case you didn’t catch that, from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, approximately 95% of our ambulance service’s operating expense was covered by revenue and grants, with approximately 5% funded by the county.
What makes this especially impressive is because if you google, you will find surrounding counties are struggling with manpower and the ability to meet increasing fuel and supply costs; they are unable to replace high mileage vehicles, and cannot supply essential medical equipment. Sometimes, they are experiencing long delays in responding to calls or they are having to route calls through to a neighboring county. I am very proud to say that our ambulance service furnishes our citizens with a highly responsive service that has state-of-the-art equipment and highly trained employees with minimal cost to the county.
As the county considers a new EMS facility that will be built down the road with potential funding, the discussion involves much more than the construction of a building for a place to park vehicles. It involves the provision of safe working conditions, appropriate storage for expensive medical equipment, protection of valuable emergency vehicles, infection control, training space, the ability to continue providing dependable patient care, and the infrastructure we need to develop and build a strong community that will support the growth you want to see.
Our EMS employees spend their working lives caring for the people of McCreary County. Their workplace, equipment, and safety deserve the same careful consideration they give their patients.
Health, safety, and the wellbeing of our community will always have my full support.
