The Coshocton County Beacon June 6, 2024 | Page 13

June 6 , 2024 The Beacon • 13

Ribbon cutting , open house held at EMS building

By Marianne Austin For The Beacon

The Coshocton community was invited to a ribbon cutting to mark a new beginning for Coshocton EMS with an open house and tour of the new building on Walnut Street where Central Elementary School once stood . The Coshocton Honor Guard opened the dedication with a flagraising ceremony .

“ This has been a long time coming . We started trying to find a new home 20 years ago . We had some hiccups along the road . This is really a special day for us ,” Coshocton County Emergency Medical Services Director Todd Shroyer said .

The old building opened in the 1980s when EMS was all volunteer and the trucks were small vans . Over the years as the trucks have gotten bigger and the paperwork has gotten more , the building didn ’ t fit the organization ’ s needs .

“ When you take the tour upstairs in the office section and look at any two offices , that was our entire office area ,” Shroyer said . “ We doubled up in the office spaces . There were two people in the 10-by-10 office space . When we expanded the crews , we didn ’ t have enough room for all of the men , and some of them had to sleep in recliners . As the trucks got bigger , they wouldn ’ t fit into the garage . At one point we jack-hammered out the floor to lower the floor because we couldn ’ t raise the door high enough to get the engines out . They wouldn ’ t even fit in the back , so the trucks had to go to Warsaw .

“ In 2003 we passed a levy and found out we couldn ’ t use tax dollars in an operating levy to build the station . Then in the 2008-09 time frame , I figured out a way to set aside some money , and we started working on a building fund . But we couldn ’ t get the trucks in at Warsaw , so

Marianne Austin

The Coshocton community was invited to a ribbon cutting to mark a new beginning for Coshocton EMS . The program included an open house and tour of the new station on Walnut Street .

we had to help them . We thought about the Tribune building , and that didn ’ t work out . It felt like it was never going to happen .

“ A few years ago after the CARES money started , the county was awarded a CARES Act grant totaling $ 1,950,000 to construct a new EMS building . Post- COVID buildings cost more , so the building ended up coming in closer to $ 5 . Without that 400 % funding , we would never have been able to do it . We are extremely happy . We are extremely blessed to have this . During COVID we lost almost 40 % of our staff . It ’ s been a long process . I am hopeful . Lead engineer Mike Brugger of Tekton Engineering took all our ideas and turned it into a drawing . When you see all of the technology in this building , that ’ s him .”

When they started making plans for the new building , Luke Allen was on the staff for IT .

“ I helped them with any technology questions they had ,” he said . “ I was fortunate to be involved in it . It was a really cool process to see . When I was first hired , I was 17 , so the process took a while because I was still in high school . They weren ’ t sure if they were allowed to bring a minor on to work for them . They did eventually , and I worked for them midspring of last year , helping to get it set up and keeping their systems up to date at the three different stations .

“ We had three other locations and a lot of paper work to manage because a lot of it was going online instead of being on paper and making sure everything was still secure . If they have any problems , they still have my number , so they can give me a call .”

The facility has a garage with five ambulance bays and space for equipment , training

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and living quarters . There is a gym , two laundry rooms , two training rooms , a lounge with kitchen , bathrooms , an examination room if someone comes to the station , five individual bunk rooms and office space . Parked in the garage will be four ambulances and four SUVs . It has 14-foot doors .

County commissioner Dane Shryock spoke on

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Marianne Austin

EMS crews pushed the truck into the bay . This ceremony dates to the days of horse-drawn equipment when members had to push the equipment into the bay .

behalf of all the county commissioners .

“ It is quite an honor to stand here because Coshocton EMS is a very professional , very educated , very dedicated group of individuals whose mission is to save lives and help people on a daily basis ,” he said . “ They average about roughly 6,000

runs a year , averaging 16 1 / 2 runs a day . They are on the ground as the first responders among us . Now they have got the place , the services , the dome , and I am just proud . Thank you .”

County commissioner Rick Conkle said the community is blessed to have this new facility .

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