When a call comes in, it doesn't matter what the day or time, the Stoddard County Ambulance District will be there to help -- for a person in distress or assisting in a natural disaster.
"We take care of all emergency and routine ambulance needs for the county," SCAD Manager David Cooper said. "We start about 6:45 a.m. with inspecting trucks, restocking and all maintenance issues required. Then we just wait on the call after that."
The group of medics and EMTs not only answer their own calls, but also assist with all fire calls in Stoddard County on standby in case firefighters or citizens need assistance.
Even while taking care of Stoddard County, the ambulance district finds time to assist the nation during natural disaster recoveries.
This year, SCAD was deployed to Virginia for Hurricane Florence and Georgia for Hurricane Michael.
When crews from Stoddard County are called upon to lend a hand, the orders come from American Medical Response (AMR), a network provider in contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
As FEMA's prime emergency medical service response provider, AMR has a national agreement with FEMA to provide ground ambulance, air ambulance, paratransit services and non-ambulance EMS personnel to supplement the Federal and military response to a disaster, an act of terrorism or any other public health emergency.
According to Troy Lambert, Ground Ambulance Emergency Manager, AMR OEM, any agency is welcome to apply to be an Emergency Network Provider (ENP).
Since signing the contract with AMR after Hurricane Katrina, SCAD crews have been deployed on six hurricane missions.
During the hurricane season, Cooper said his crew watches storms and when it looks like a hurricane of any significance could form, a notification is sent to Strike Team members, who deploy to assist in natural disasters.
A briefing is then sent to SCAD from AMR letting the group know they could be deployed. As the storm progresses, feedback from FEMA is being sent to AMR.
"When AMR receives an official task order from FEMA, we determine how many ENP resources we need to assist," Lambert said. "Depending on where resources will need to be placed, a notification goes out from our National Command Center to all approved ENPs in the catchment area, those that can meet the response time/in place time requirements set by the FEMA activation."
If it is decided the Strike Team is needed, the crew will receive a meeting notice and begin packing to leave.
When five of the 15 Strike Team members from SCAD are chosen to be deployed, the group tries to be out within an hour of receiving the call.
"We usually try to pack 12 hours before we get the word," Cooper said.
This quick pack is assisted by the constantly stocked and ready Strike Team closet with everything the group would need during their mission.
"With Florence we left out in about 33 minutes," said Strike Team member and Crew Chief Jerry Caldwell. "Michael took a little longer because we didn't think we were going to be called."
After the five members are chosen, the remaining 10 members will fill the extra shifts created by pulling individuals off normal duty to cover Stoddard County.
"The Strike Team is either going or covering," Cooper said. "They all know that's part of the responsibility before taking on the assignment."
During the two hurricane deployments in 2018, each mission was different from the other.
Five Strike Team members were deployed to Virginia for Hurricane Florence.
After the storm moved further south than originally planned, the group said their services were not needed.
"Once they had an idea of how it moved, we were demobilized after six days," Cooper said.
When being deployed to Georgia for Hurricane Michael, the Strike Team saw a lot more action.
Several hospitals and nursing homes were on generator power and the concern was if generators failed, patients would need to be moved quickly to other areas.
"Really our mission was just in support in the state of Georgia and mainly due to their situations with power outages and damages," Cooper said.
When initially arriving, the group was told they could be traveling to Tallahassee, Fla., once released by Georgia.
Florida began to get a handle on their situation and the group was released after six days to return home to Stoddard County.
Strike Team member Kyle Cox, who has served in the military and is still active in the reserves, served on his first deployment traveling to assist with Hurricane Michael.
"Kyle understands what hurry up and wait means," Cooper said.
When being deployed to assist in any natural disaster, Cooper said one thing the group has learned is they will be in a semi military operation.
"We go and know the first thing do is stage in a location and we have to learn to be very patient," he said. "Sometimes we don't know what our assignments are going to be until they happen. Sometimes they don't happen at all."
While assisting with Hurricane Michael, the group slept under the stars for three nights.
The Strike Team prepares to be self sufficient for 72 hours with cots, water, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and more.
"We could probably be self sufficient for a week," Cox said.
After sleeping outside for three days, Cooper said the group was put in a hotel the last day and a half.
"The one thing we didn't lack was food," he said with a laugh. "We had catered meals and home cooked Georgia food."
With his military background, Cox said he decided to take the extra training to become a Strike Team member to further opportunities and to be able to do more with the assets the group has available.
"Every response has made us better because we have become better and more self sufficient than when we first started," Cox said. "If we had another type of speciality team on our service I would be interested in it too."
Caldwell and Steven Cummins have both been with SCAD for 21 years and joined the Strike Team for the same reason they got into EMS, to help people, they said.
Cummins assisted on Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008 in Texas for 32 days.
"During Ike and Gustav, we cleared out hospitals and nursing homes to sister hospitals," he said. "We took a lot to Texas A&M's basketball court and repopulated after it was over to get them close to where they were going."
The friendly people of Texas and their appreciation is what stood out for Cummins during his extended stay when assisting during the two hurricanes.
One of the more challenging deployments, Cooper said, was hurricane Irma last year in Key West, Fla., due to no cell phone service.
"We were operating on satellite phones until temporary cell service was put back up around the hospital," he said.
The Strike Team not only assists on hurricane missions. In 2011, a group traveled to Joplin for tornado recovery and to Van Buren in 2017 for flood assistance.
Caldwell said the group ran calls in Joplin for a week and assisted in long transfers.
SCAD was able to offer their Disaster Response Bus during the flood in Van Buren and Carter County to serve as a mobile unit for the community.
Payments the Strike Team receives for their assistance during natural disasters goes into a disaster account.
With those funds, SCAD has purchased the Disaster Response Bus, a Kubota ATV, camper and triage trailer.
The stipulation for the purchases, Cooper said, is to allow the district to make improvements within the community and region for its own natural disasters.
"It's just a win-win for us to get to help because it's our nature and wanting to be a part of that while gaining experience," Cooper said. "It feels good to be helping in natural disasters. We are always ready and eager to go help."