Sullivan County EMS Awarded with $500,000 Dollar Support Grant

Going into the weekend, Sullivan County and specifically Sullivan County Emergency Medical Services, received the incredible news that they are to be awarded a support grant valued at $500,000 dollars.

As one could expect, the announcement was met this thunderous applause and gratitude. Plans are already being devised with how to put the grant money to proper use.

Sullivan EMS $500K Grant

Details regarding the grant and what it will be used for were revealed in a press release obtained by WPDH and also posted to the Sullivan County, NY Government Facebook page.

It was stated that the $500,000 dollar grant is the maximum amount awarded by the NYS Department of Health. Sullivan County officials applied for the grant after gaps were identified in the counties EMS system. These "gaps" impacted EMS provider capabilities, patient outcomes, and response time according to Public Safety Commissioner Scott Schulte.

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Mr. Schulte would continue to make a number of statments throughout the press release detailing in many ways how and what the $500,000 dollars will be going towards.

Improvements and Investments for Sullivan County EMS

The grant money awarded is going to push along a number of investments and improvements for Sullivan County's EMS, which is critical this time of year as calls to the 911 Center increase as we get closer to and during the Summer.

Via the press release, Mr. Schulte stated that the grant money will be going towards...

extensive recruitment and retention initiatives, equipping local EMS agencies with needed diagnostic tools, increasing affordable training opportunities, and contracting with an EMS provider to address peak-season capacity issues.

The grant will be divided out over the course of a "four-pronged initiative". The part one of the initiative will focus on free EMT training (including for advanced EMT certification) as well acquiring EMS supplies. Part two of the initiative will be recruitment/retention campaign.

Parts three and four of the initiative plan are definitely more hands on and will focus on...

moving toward standardizing the level of care throughout all our EMS agencies at the highest-possible level of Basic Life Support, and bringing on more resources during the busy summer season.

Examples of this would be equipping local agencies with enhanced heart attack detection equipment and adding EMS units which is being planned for the months of June, July and August.

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Whether it's our local law enforcement, firefighters or in this case EMS, it's always a good to see these vital parts and people in our communities getting additional support so they have the ability to do their jobs as best as possible when we do need them most.