Muskogee County EMS Receives New Ambulance

Emergency response time in Muskogee County just got a little better, because the County's EMS just got a new ambulance.

"Everybody likes that new car smell ... a medic likes that new ambulance smell and everything that goes with it," says Operations Director Ron Morris.

He’s excited to add another truck to the fleet at Muskogee County EMS. It comes with all the bells and whistles crews need to save lives.

"Exterior compartments for equipment, backboards, oxygen, extraction equipment, things that we'll use on the scene," he says.

Morris says crews go on about 22,000 calls a year, but they've been even busier the last couple of years.

He says their trucks got a lot of extra use during the covid-19 pandemic, meaning more wear and tear.

"Everything that's happened since 2020 that's put all the extra miles, all the extra engine hours on all of the ambulances across the country has just chewed them up," he says.

That's why he feels lucky Muskogee County used over $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to buy this new ambulance, a first for the county.

"We were just at the right place and the right time to be able to do that, and we felt like it was the right thing to do, and we're glad that we did it," says County Commissioner Ken Doke.

Doke and the other Muskogee County Commissioners know how vital this service is to the people they serve.

"I would venture to say that there's probably not a more important service that we provide to the people of Muskogee County than what EMS does," he says.

Muskogee County EMS paid to outfit the truck, about $100,000, but Ron Morris says it's worth it. A new truck means less maintenance and more time on the road helping people.

"We can move faster, we can move more efficiently, we can move more effectively," Morris says.