Lyon County Ambulance Service selects new building

Above, this ambulance crew stands in front of the Lyon County Ambulance Service’s newly leased building. From left are: Kris Tapp, Jessie Hughes, David Creekmer, Sara Mink holding R.J. Harris, Brandi Harris holding Madison Harris and Breiann Harris at her side. –Bobbie Foust/ The Herald Ledger

Lyon County ambulance crews will no longer have to dodge rain from a leaky roof or use a coed restroom once they move into their quarters.
The ambulance service’s board voted to rent the former Trover Clinic building on Cardinal Lane off Commerce Street in Eddyville on Thursday night, said board Chairman Rod Murphy. The lease from owner Jim Daniel is for six months at $2000 a month.
The building meets state criteria and provides adequate facilities for a medical agency.
The state building inspector has said that because the ambulance service is a medical emergency service it should “be the last building to fall” should a major earthquake shake the region, said Bill Adams, ambulance service director, noting that this region is in the New Madrid Seismic Zone.
“We have got to be able to respond to the public, and if we are underneath rubble, we can’t get out, and we can’t service the public,” Adams said. “The guidelines of the state are more stringent on us as an emergency medical service than they would be for other agencies.”
The board has explored housing options for years because its building on Fairview Avenue no longer meets its needs.
“The old building was just getting further deteriorated, and this building became available,” Murphy said. “We saw that we were not going to have to spend a lot of money to renovate it, and we would be able to move right in.”
The board will have to install a shower, which will cost about $800, and run an electric line for a kitchen range, but that should be completed within a month, he said.
“We had the local building inspector look at it, and he gave us the green light,” Murphy said. “We were afraid our old building was going to be condemned, and we’d be given a week to find a place.”
Murphy said the board has a standing quote to buy the building from Daniel, but members decided to consider other options for now.
“It’s a good building; I think it was built in 1995, and it was designed for Trover Clinic,” Adams said. “ ... We have been looking for a building for well over five years, and this is the closest that we have found that goes into the design we need. I usually have four people on staff 24-7, and so each one is going to get a bedroom.”
The building on Fairview was constructed when the service was established in 1977 and has become inadequate.
“We had an office down there, and we had one room for bedroom, kitchen and TV, and we had one bathroom for the staff,” Adams said. “So I spoke to Judge Jimmy Campbell, and he gave me a room at the courthouse for my office. I moved my office out so that the staff could have separate bedrooms. I gave the girls the front — my office — and men had the back office.
“It brought their spirits up, but this new building we’re going into now, has not only raised their spirits, they are beside themselves with excitement,” he said. “I told them it’s going to take some time to change, but the staff said, ‘Can we move in tonight anyway.’ So they are excited, and they are very thankful too.”