Newly-elected Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron and City of Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland have appointed a Joint Task Force to review and recommend best practices for the coordinated operation of Emergency Medical Services in Rutherford County.
“As the new Mayor of Rutherford County, I am proud of the great people and amenities offered in the best community in the state and country,” County Mayor Bill Ketron said. “Appointing a task force to enhance the services between Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services, Murfreesboro Fire Rescue, and all other municipalities in Rutherford County is a top priority for patient safety and care in my administration. My goal is to have the best emergency medical system in the State of Tennessee.”
As the primary service provider for ambulance transport, Rutherford County EMS is charged under the Tennessee Department of Health to deliver emergency medical service by maintaining state standards of pre-hospital care, equipment, training, and certification.
Currently, Rutherford County operates 14 ambulances with emergency medical services throughout the entire County and provides paramedic services within the City limits with Advanced Life Support (ALS), including patient transport, and advanced treatment to emergency room facilities.
“Murfreesboro Fire Rescue has developed a highly-skilled, professional team of Emergency Medical Service providers that work in challenging environments and situations,” City Mayor Shane McFarland said. “Creating a unified approach to enhance efficiencies and coordination of patient care is vital to our growing community.”
Currently, Murfreesboro Fire & Rescue responds to emergency medical calls for help from 10 strategic locations across the City and provides Advanced Life Support (ALS) to 130,000 residents within the city limits.
More than 20 Paramedic firefighters answer 75 percent of emergency medical calls from four fire stations identified through response analytics as the optimum stations to locate their services.
Both services are committed to “Best Practices” within the profession of emergency medical services and are responsible to the following practices and protocols:
- A commonly-shared Emergency Medical Director, Russ Galloway, who oversees and approves all EMS providers under his medical license.
- Consistent communications that includes enhanced emergency medical dispatch.
- Commitment to quarterly scheduled joint-training and protocols, including quality assurance, shared state-of-the-art equipment and patient care information.
- Clinical sophistication—providing the best patient care possible.
- An integrated system of EMS quick response and ambulance transport.
Appointed to the Joint Task Force on Emergency Medical Services are the following:
- Chris Clark, Interim Chief, La Vergne Fire Department
- Bill Culbertson, Chief, Smyrna Fire Department
- Larry Farley, Chief, Rutherford County Fire Rescue
- Mark Foulks, Chief, Murfreesboro Fire Rescue
- Russ Galloway, Medical Director
- Joe Haffner, Deputy Director, Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services
- Brian Hercules, Smyrna Town Manager
- Bill Ketron, Rutherford County Mayor
- Kim Lawson, Assistant Chief of Medical Services, Murfreesboro Fire Rescue
- Shane McFarland, Murfreesboro Mayor
- Mike Nunley, Director, Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services
- Rick Parks, Chief, Eagleville Fire Department
- Hellyn Riggins, Eagleville City Manager
- Craig Tindall, Murfreesboro City Manager
- Bruce Richardson, La Vergne City Administrator
