Butler County EMS is Poplar Bluff's only locally owned ambulance service and the only one in the area with live dispatchers on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Our mission is to provide the resources necessary to cover any situation in the region, both emergency and non-emergency, that requires medical treatment and transport. We partner with the community to provide service at local school and charity events, as well as many other public gatherings.
Your health and safety is our business!
Butler County EMS operates three stations in and around Poplar Bluff, to provide rapid access to emergency care when you need it fast:
* Station 1, 4005 S. Westwood Blvd.;
* Station 2, 843 Pine St.;
* Station 3, 2906 N. Westwood Blvd. (Headquarters).
Butler County EMS is now ending our sixth year of service to our community. Owners Scott Preslar and Dina Rhodes saw the need for improvement and petitioned the state for licensure to begin an ambulance service in 2012. The plan since Day 1 was to provide access, as quickly as possible, to the people in need of care in our region. Butler County EMS began in one building, with two ambulances and two crews. Since that time, our operation has expanded to over 60 employees, staffing three stations in the area with seven crews on each day. Our fleet includes 12 ambulances, rapid response vehicles and an off-road capable UTV specially equipped for medical care and transport. Dispatchers work on site at our headquarters, taking both emergency calls and requests for medical transport from our local hospitals. Crews work tirelessly around the clock, to provide transport to patients any time of day, any day of the year.
In addition to expansion of our fleet and workforce, we have had a strong focus on expanding our training and equipment -- specifically regarding critical care transport. As our community grows with more and more rural hospitals closing, Poplar Bluff has become a regional hub for medical care. Each year sees an increase in population and in people seeking treatment here. Often, particularly critical patients require treatment at a larger facility, treatment that may not be available here. These patients typically need continuation of medical care during transport, potentially for hours in transit between hospitals. In 2018, BCEMS purchased equipment specifically for the treatment of these patients. A new stretcher is currently being custom-fitted to accommodate the extra equipment needed for critical care transport, so a patient can be transferred from the ICU to our ambulance, then to another hospital anywhere without interruption in potentially life-saving treatment.
Butler County EMS has also renewed a contract with the VA hospital, John J. Pershing VAMC, with a five-year option. We at Butler County EMS look forward to our continued partnership that allows us to serve the men and women who served this country. Our calling is to fulfill any need, no matter how great or small, that we are able. Our hearts are with this city, our region and especially our great country. May God continue to bless all of us and may we be able to help others in their time of need.
New for 2018:
* Purchase of two new ambulances to meet the growing needs of Butler County residents;
* Development of new training program, focused on increasing our ability to meet the demand for specialiazed care --specifically for critical care patients being transported to larger hospitals;
* Purchase of two new transport ventilators and a specialized critical care stretcher unit, designed for transport of ICU patients;
* Hiring of two additional crews to meet the increasing demand for service in our area;
* VA contract awarded to BCEMS for additional term.