Sussex County officials hope an expansion of their Emergency Operation Complex will help maintain their nationally recognized performance.
Sussex Emergency Medical Services recently earned first place in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) Games- a national competition testing EMS agencies on their prehospital medical care.
“So to keep up with that level of service we wanted to make sure that the paramedics had a facility that provided the training, the educational setting, the equipment, and the space that they needed to be able to provide the service at a level that we expect. And a level that our constituents expect. In addition, with the growing County that we see, we want to make sure that we are planning for the future. And this complex does that,” said Sussex County Administrator Todd Lawson.
The $12 million, 20,000 square foot expansion allows for Sussex County to consolidate its public safety efforts.
The Emergency Operations Complex now serves as the administrative headquarters for 911 dispatchers, paramedics, and other first-responders, and a training facility for the County’s Emergency Medical Services department.
Sussex County EMS Deputy Director Robert Mauch says having everyone under one roof is a big benefit.
“We can't do our jobs without the 911 dispatch center. They're the first link in the emergency process,” explained Mauch. “They receive the call, they handle all of our dispatching, all of our communications as far as where we're going. They keep tabs and make sure our people are safe out on the street- if they haven't heard from them in a while they’ll call and do a check up on the radio. So now this is going to increase opportunities for us to meet together, opportunities for us to do some training together.”
The EMS training facility hosts a simulation lab and five simulation classrooms that provide ongoing training for paramedics.
“8 months out of the year we bring all of our paramedics in one shift at a time on one of their days off to do in-house education. This keeps them up to date on the latest trends, changes to protocols, recertification in things such as advanced cardiac life support and basic CPR,” said Mauch.
This allows them to do all of that training in house- a rarity in EMS agencies.
Simulation training, which is done on an ong-going basis, allows personnel to practice responding to a variety of different crises, such as a house fire at night.
Sussex County EMS was the first EMS agency in the world to earn an accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare for its training program.
That accreditation is typically reserved for medical schools and hospitals.
