Johnny Campbell, Executive Director of Marble Falls Emergency Management Services (MF EMS), spoke to Daybreak Rotary on Tuesday, October 12 about the current state of Emergency Management in Marble Falls.
Johnny Campbell, Executive Director of Marble Falls Emergency Management Services (MF EMS), spoke to Daybreak Rotary on Tuesday, October 12 about the current state of Emergency Management Services in Marble Falls. See his program on the #MFDaybreak YouTube channel here.
MF EMS establishes contracts with cities and unincorporated areas to provide necessary emergency services. Their main station is located on Industrial Blvd, with the fire station located just behind it to the east.
Our area is growing and MF EMS actively recruits trainees from Central Texas and from Austin Community College to meet these needs.
The Marble Falls Area EMS Initial Education Program is the future vision for our community's growth. This program allows participants to train in the EMS courses and reach the same high quality and professional emergency medical care experience as current employees.
For years, MF EMS has had a High School EMS program to encourage and teach kids who express interest in this community service path. They have now added an Adult EMT program to expand recruitment. These program classes fill up quickly! The next class, scheduled for February, is already full, and the following two classes in the spring are filling up fast. So, if you know anyone who wishes to be an EMT, please let them know about this opportunity soon! Another new program allows MF EMS to send EMTs to Paramedic school to acquire additional medical skills. This costs about $5000 to $6000 apiece for a six month program.
Dealing with difficult people in crises is always hard on everyone involved. Now with Bob Hamilton as the Community Interact person, and Mike Sorenson as the Mental Health Officer for the Sheriff’s office, more options are available for difficult or mentally unstable people. Previously, the only options available to public servants like Police or EMS, were taking people either to jail or a hospital. Now they can transport them to a mental health facility instead for further analysis and treatment.
One of MF EMS’s annual projects is to check child car seats and replace those that are not in compliance. They set a time and place and people come to have their car seats checked. Unfortunately about 90% of the car seats they check are not in compliance, so they do replace a lot of car seats to keep the youngest in our community safe!
Recently MF EMS worked with Homeland Security to acquire a $10,000,000 - $15,000,000 Communication system with Federal funds. They now have extensive Handheld Communication coverage, from La Mesa in the North to San Antonio in the South; and from Pontotoc in the West to Bastrop in the East!
All of these upgrades and programs will help MF EMS effectively provide services to our fast growing community!
Every Tuesday morning Marble Falls Daybreak Rotary strives to provide relevant and interesting programs. If you have a local program or service you would like to learn more about, please let us know and we can try to arrange a program.