Effective immediately Lenoir County residents may see different ambulances responding to their calls. Lenoir County Emergency Services (LCES) announced on Saturday, February 5th that a FEMA ambulance strike team will provide much-needed relief to their staff.

“Our EMS call volume is increasing,” said LCES Director Murry Stroud. “Lenoir County EMS answered 12,416 calls for service in 2021, as compared to 11,085 in 2020, and 10,861 in 2019. Increasing system demand can be attributed, at least in part, to the COVID pandemic.”

Stroud referenced data also shows Lenoir County has a significant concentration of persons with advanced medical conditions, as well as a statistically higher rate of substance abuse and violent crime per capita than many of the larger cities in North Carolina. All of which contribute to increased EMS system demand.

“We are currently exploring all available recruitment and retention avenues,” said Stroud. “Since assuming the role of Emergency Services Director in December, I have been interviewing staff and evaluating processes to help determine what, if any, changes could be made to attract new employees and retain the wonderful staff that currently protects and serves this community.”

Nationwide, EMS systems are finding it increasingly more difficult to hire and retain Paramedics than ever before. There are currently 12 open field staff positions with Lenoir County Emergency Service’s EMS Division, which represents roughly 23 percent of the responding workforce.

“The FEMA ambulance allocated to Lenoir County was placed into service this past Saturday and will operate on 12-hour shift rotations for up to 14 days,” said Stroud. “We are currently utilizing this team during peak call volume times as a way of providing a bit of relief to our full-time Lenoir County EMS crews.”

Despite the challenges that Lenoir County EMS faced in the last two years during a global pandemic, they pride themselves on providing excellent care and maintaining their professional standards.