Ambulance Board praises
services work during storm

Lyon County Ambulance Service director Bill Adams credits the efforts of responders during the storm. –Bobbie Foust/ The Herald Ledger

By BOBBIE FOUST
.bfoust@heraldledger.com

When Bill Adams took the helm at the Lyon County Ambulance Service five years ago, it was within 24 hours of closing its doors.
Now the service is on sound financial ground.
“That’s because of what Bill has done,” said Ambulance Board Chairman Rod Murphy.
Because the service is solvent, the board was able to tell Adams to do what he had to do during the January ice storm.
“I have a very good board,” Adams said. “One of my board members called me when this got started and pretty much opened the door. They said, ‘Bill, do what you’ve gotta do. Be concerned about our money, but if you need something, tell us.’”
What he had to do amounted to $35,000 in wages and $21,000 in overtime for three crews who worked around the clock. It also required Adams himself to man a chainsaw in front of the ambulances cutting a path for them to get through to patients.
“I have a very good, dedicated crew, and when the disaster hit, we brought in another crew,” he said. “We had three ambulances and three crews and each one had a paramedic onboard. We handled approximately 80 to 85 runs; we did not miss any, and we were able to handle mutual aid for other counties as well.
“We were very lucky and very blessed; we had no fatalities during that storm,” Adams said.
Adams downplayed his own role, and credited the heroic efforts performed by the Rescue Squad, road department, first responders and volunteers.
“I was lucky,” he said. “All of us worked together to get the roads cleared so we could get to the patients. There were some times where we were not able to get through because of the debris in the road, but with the Rescue Squad and the road department, we actually used their trucks to go get the patients, and bring them back to the ambulance.”
The ambulance service has about 14 full-time employees. Part-timers round out a staff of 25.
During the storm, the public also helped. Nearby residents brought in food and offered showers to the employees.
Adams credited ambulance crews for saving lives not only during the storm but also routinely.
“They are very dedicated,” he said. “Through it all they worked diligently, and just made my job easy.”