Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
Following the December 2 Pocahontas County Commission meeting, an interview was conducted with Commission President John Rebinski and Emergency Medical Service Director Chris Lusk about where the county stands in its efforts to establish a paid ambulance service for the entire county.
“Currently we are running out of Green Bank, seven days a week,” Lusk said. “In the southern part of the county, we are having some nights that we are able to cover, as well, and that is all night long from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. We do have one ambulance that’s getting picked up very soon that had to be re-lettered, and we have one that’s in-service and fully stocked and running calls.
“There is also one that is currently being used as a back-up spare.”
“We had gotten into the situation with the county where we were heavily dependent on volunteers, which was a good success story – they saved this county a lot of funds by volunteering,” Rebinski said. “And it was a really good system that was working in our county, but, unfortunately, over the years, volunteering has died out, and due to the lack of volunteers, we had to look in a new direction to continue to help provide ambulance coverage for Pocahontas County. So, we decided to start a paid Pocahontas County Ambulance Service to help take care of and address that issue.”
The county received a brand-new ambulance in September, and it is now in operation. It has been approved by the state and is currently being used in the northern end of the county during the day and in the southern end of the county in the evening.
“Another thing, we are trying to provide coverage for the southern end, trying to cover nights,” Rebinski said. “Due to funding (issues,) which we are trying to address, we are not able to cover seven nights a week on the southern end. So, the Pocahontas County Ambulance has been doing between three and four nights a week, and then we’ve been coordinating with Marlinton’s ambulance crew that is still helping us out- volunteering in the evening, and then PMH’s ambulance, when they are staffed, to help provide coverage seven nights a week in the lower end of the county.”
“We started in August of 2023, so we’ve been in operation two-two and a half years now,” Rebinski said. “And it seems like we’ve been continuously improving, covering more challenges, and getting the system up.
Our goal is to eventually have 24-7 (ambulance service) as things progress forward. But our biggest thing right now is finding the additional funding. We have some ideas out there that we are looking at. I hope when the folks in the county hear about that, that they realize how important it is to get this funding, so that we have adequate ambulance service in Pocahontas County, because it is really important –a matter of life and death.
“I want the residents in the county to realize the importance and the expense that goes along with it, because it is very expensive to provide 24-7 paid coverage for ambulance service.”
