About 150 people attended the Big River Ambulance District’s 50th anniversary celebration on July 26 at the new House 1, Chief Scott Fisher said.
The district celebrated half a century of community service with tours of the new building at 6327 Lorens Lane in Cedar Hill, which opened in April next door to the old station. The event also included equipment displays, food trucks and an obstacle course.
Drew and Brittney Moore celebrate Big River Ambulance District’s 50th anniversary with Vincent, 5 months.
“It was a good mix of everybody, friends and family, present and former staff members,” Fisher said. “We had a lot of good food, and people enjoyed visiting the new house, comparing where some of them worked in the past to what it is now, with some of the former, retired employees looking at current equipment and being amazed at how times have changed.”
The new house replaced the old House 1, which was about 50 years old and too small for the growing district, Fisher said.
He said the new house cost $4,829,066 and was completed in early January. Construction began on the building in late 2023.
The ambulance district used funds from Proposition Safety, a $17 million bond issue voters approved in August 2022, to build the new 9,700-square-foot building. It holds up to two, two-person crews, administrative offices and three bays, which will hold two ambulances and a duty vehicle. The new building also includes a training room that can seat 25-30 people for public classes.
The ambulance district covers about 125 square miles in Byrnes Mill, Cedar Hill, Dittmer, Grubville, House Springs, Morse Mill and Ware.
Riding in style
In 1975, the fledgling Big River Ambulance District began with a single hearse donated by Chapel Hill Mortuary serving as an ambulance. Dispatchers took emergency calls from their homes, and the hearse was stored at whichever house had space at the time, Fisher said.
Later, the district found a temporary home in an old Ameren building off Hwy. BB, across from Sorrellis’ Italian Restaurant, and then in 1978, it moved into the old House 1 on Lorens Lane, he said.
Fisher said land for House 2, at 4795 Tishomingo Road in Hillsboro, was donated to the district, and that house was built in the early 1980s. Big River Ambulance purchased House 3, at 6969 Wild Cherry Drive in House Springs, from the High Ridge Fire Protection District in 2010.
He said House 3 is “stripped down to the studs” and is currently being rehabbed by Wachter Inc. in Arnold, the same company that built the district’s new house.
“(House 3) was outdated,” Fisher said. “Everything is being done to bring it up to date, so to speak. We’re hoping to be done in mid-September.”
Personnel
Big River Ambulance has a mix of part-time and full-time EMTS and paramedics. Each ambulance is staffed with two employees on emergency calls, Fisher said.
“Now we’re seeing more of an influx of paramedics coming in, partly because of the area we live in,” Fisher said. “We’re not very close to a hospital, so they’re with patients for a longer amount of time, and a lot of the younger, newer generation like that sort of thing.”
Fisher added that Jefferson College has about 60 students in its paramedic program right now, which is a good sign for future hiring in the district.
He said the district has seen growth of about 25-50 emergency dispatch calls a year over the last four years. Last year, the district responded to 3,500 calls for service, and, as of July 28, the district was already up 180 calls over last year.
Looking toward the future, district officials are considering purchasing and staffing another ambulance if the rate of calls continues to increase, he said.
Fisher said in the next five years, Big River Ambulance may consider building a fourth house farther south, likely in the Hwy. Y area.
“That decision will include studying exactly what kind of calls are coming from all areas of the district,” he said. “Within the next five years, that will be something heavily looked at by me and the Board of Directors.”
Technology changes
Fisher said many retired Big Ambulance staff members marveled at the changes in technology while touring the new House 1. One of the biggest changes in recent years, he said, involves ambulance ECG (or EKG) monitors that monitor heart rhythms. Modern ECGs are able to wirelessly transmit data from the monitors to hospitals, allowing doctors to prepare before the patient arrives at the hospital.
“We’re about 17 miles away from (SSM Health St. Clare Hospital), which is our closest hospital from House 1, and in some parts of our district, we’re 30-plus minutes away from an actual hospital,” Fisher said. “With the ECG, we’re able to diagnose a lot more in the field and alert the hospital much quicker.”
Fisher said the district is forward-thinking, applying for several grants for additional medical equipment. One grant, if awarded, would allow the district to put ultrasound equipment on the ambulances. Another grant would allow the district to purchase scales for its stretchers, which is important when determining a patient’s medicine dosage in an emergency.
“We’re just trying to keep up with the latest, greatest technology that’s out there,” Fisher said.