Jennifer France has worked her way up. She started as an EMT more than 20 years ago and now has been Director of the Perry County Ambulance since October 2019.
“When I first started as the Director we ran right into COVID,” France said. “That was certainly a challenge to keep everyone safe and healthy. We had to make sure we had adequate crews at all times.”
Since then everything has run smoothly for France.
Perry County Ambulance keeps at least two ambulances staffed at all times with a paramedic and EMT.
“There will be times when calls stack some three at a time,” she said. “When that happens, I will jump into a truck and call in somebody like as nurse who has run a call before and they will go with us. For the most part we don’t have an issue with that. Ours is one of the few that hasn’t felt an impact from loss of staff.”
When France isn’t helping out with calls, she is performing director duties. However, she feels that her work before has helped her greatly.
“I started as an EMT at the lowest level and worked my way up,” France said. “I have to take care of the budget, the stock of supplies and the staff. Everything we need to be successful.”
The ambulance service has 12 full-time staff and 14 PRN, which are used as needed. The crews run a 48-96 hour schedule, which means they work for two and are off for four and rotates between three crews.
“It’s enough people for now, but as the town continues to grow we get busier and busier,” France said. “We have looked into growing ourselves, and where we can place another base strategically, so that it can help the most.”
The ambulance is a county service, which means that it takes calls on the eastern end of the county as well.
“We get our fair share and have had three out that way in the last two days,” France said. “Our response time is about 17 minutes depending on where it is and in town it’s about a one minute response time during the day and 3-4 at night. When the tones go off they have to get int the truck and go.”
The ambulance service uses a map book to get around Perry County.
“A lot of places use GPS, but that doesn’t always take you to the right spot,” France said. “We have a great map book that we use and it hasn’t failed us yet.
She believes that her service is vital to Perry County.
“What we do is crucial for the citizens of Perry County,” she said. “We want to help as many people as we can and as quickly as we can.”
