What's New, What's to Come

Coming Soon:

USV EMS has been working on many different things behind the scenes. There are a lot of moving parts when attempting to go from mostly volunteer to a 24/7 staffed operation. 

USV EMS has hired a consulting firm in order to be sure that all of the best decisions are made on behalf of our tax payers. The board and the Chief want to ensure your taxpayer dollars are being spent properly and effectively. The consulting firm will assist us in doing everything needed to get the department off the ground for a 24/7 staff. They will assist us in creating a budget, ensuring we are compliant with all laws, creating a 24/7 staffed schedule, creating policies and procedures necessary, and assisting us to do the best by our communities. 

USV EMS has begun the process of upgrading the building starting with the contractor and an architect to design the renovation plans. The current plan is to upgrade the station in Alger in order to follow the building codes required to house staff overnight. Depending on the cost of the upgrade to the current station other plans may come into place. We know at some point in our future we will need to build a newer, larger building so we are looking at our options.

USV EMS started the process of purchasing Marcs radios. The purchase of the Marcs radios will cost $17,537.44. With the rising issues with the VHF radio system in the county going down, it was determined the best choice was to upgrade to the Marcs radios. The upgrade in the radio system will ensure the crew from USV EMS are able to communicate with all departments county wide as well as have the necessary line of communication with Hardin County Dispatch. This upgraded radio system will hopefully be installed by the upcoming 2024 Summer.

Chief Helton has applied for the 2024 Hardin County Community Foundation Grant and the 2024 State EMS Grant. The hope is these grants may be used to offset the cost of Marcs radios, update the coats the members wear year round and provide the ability to host community outreach programs.

USV EMS is working to grow the staff for the ambulance district. Currently we are working to add a 2nd shift in order to continue to move forward with the plans of 24/7 staffed coverage.