As Cache County Emergency Medical Services Ambulance Administrator Jay Downs walked through the ambulance bay at Hyrum's newly constructed Station 161, he examined the facility's equipment with a smile on his face. "Before this station was completed, EMS teams stayed in an old house behind Hyrum's fire station," Downs recalled.
“Having this space here is one thousand times better than what we had before.”
The opening of the 3,000-square-foot, two-bay facility had been a priority of CCEMS for over a year. Hyrum EMS teams had previously shared space with the Hyrum Fire Department, but the growth of both organizations necessitated the construction of a new standalone ambulance facility. The Hyrum City Council approved CCEMS’ request for the facility’s space at 675 E. 50 North in June 2015, with construction beginning in February 2016.
“When CCEMS was created in 2003, Hyrum made room to allow our staff to have a presence in the southern part of the valley,” Downs said. “In the end, we both grew to the point where we needed this space. It’s good to finally have it ready and active.”
The facility officially began operations last Monday following a public open house. Downs said 23 EMS workers operate out of the new station, 10 of whom use the station as their main location. At least two advanced EMS responders are on call seven days a week at the station from 7 a.m. through 10 p.m., responding primarily to calls on the southern end of the county, including Hyrum, Nibley, Paradise and Millville.
In addition to housing an ambulance and one of four of the county’s mass casualty trailers, which is stocked with equipment to serve up to 400 people impacted by major disasters like earthquakes and fires, the facility also has an infectious control room for staff to get clean in case of contact with dangerous fluids or chemicals, dormitories and a kitchen area for on-call workers, and a fully stocked supply of medical equipment which is restocked weekly.