EMS

The Division of EMS is responsible for Emergency Medical Response.

Winchester Fire/EMS responds to approximately 6,000 medical emergencies every year. We are available to respond to these emergencies 24 hours a day, every day of the year. We always respond to your emergencies with lights and sirens in order to quickly assess your condition. There will always be at least two people on the ambulance when they come to take care of you. Usually a Paramedic and an EMT, but sometimes two EMTs. They are all trained to help you in the event of an emergency. Many of the EMTs and Paramedics on our ambulances are trained Firefighters as well.

Why did a fire truck come when I called 911 for a medical emergency? Occasionally, our ambulances are very busy and there may be another emergency vehicle arrive at your location to take care of you until the ambulance arrives. Sometimes, the way the emergency is dispatched over the radio leads us to believe you might be in very serious condition and a fire truck will automatically come with the ambulance.

Who is Cross Medical Response? You may have seen an ambulance parked near a building on Lexington Avenue or perhaps you have seen them driving around town. Cross Medical Response has been contracted by the City of Winchester to help with transfers of patients from our local hospital, Clark Regional Medical Center, to hospitals in Lexington or elsewhere.

Why did the dispatcher ask me so many questions? Our dispatch center is trained in a system called Emergency Medical Dispatch. They ask a series of questions based on your symptoms in order to give us more information on our way to you. This is important because we may need help in taking care of you and we want to make sure that the resources you need are on the way.

Why didn't we go to the hospital with lights and sirens? We always respond with lights and sirens because we are never sure what condition you may be in when we get there. However, after we have assessed you and begun treatment, we make a delicate judgment call about driving lights and sirens to the hospital. Driving emergency vehicles with lights and sirens is very dangerous even with well trained individuals, so we want to be sure that we keep you and everyone else safe. Our Paramedics and EMTs are experienced and informed individuals, and they make this decision based on whether or not they believe you will benefit from the ambulance driving with lights and sirens.

if you have any other questions, or you would like to inquire about a bill, feel free to call us at Ecton Station (859) 744-1587.