October was a busy month for Warren County’s ambulance service.

Emergency Medical Service responded to 681 calls last month. According to departmental records, 481 of those were for non-emergency traffic transports – meaning the patients were transported with minor injuries or illnesses – and 45 emergency traffic transports. 

EMS director Preston Denney presented his monthly report to members of the county Safety Committee. 

“We did have four standbys,” said Denney. “Those would be like a structure fire. We are there if needed.”

The department also offered lift assists, went out on calls in which the person refused transportation, and had calls canceled prior to EMS arrival.

“Public assist is typically a lift assist or something of that nature,” said Denney. “We’ll get called out to assist someone in getting out of a car or off the floor. Refusals are usually those where we get called out for a motor vehicle wreck and they refuse treatment. They don’t want us to touch them. They don’t want us to look at them. We write a refusal.” 

There were 137 transfers from Saint Thomas River Park to hospitals outside Warren County during the month. The majority of those were to Saint Thomas Hospital (69) and Saint Thomas West Hospital (31). 

“We had 1,304 transfers from January thru October,” said Denney. “Last year, January thru October, we had 1,137. We are 167 above where we were at this time last year. Normally, the month of December is one of our busiest months for transfers. We have to wait and see how that goes.” 

Safety Committee members accepted the monthly report.