Thanks to recent action by Commissioners, Grimes County will begin paying a small stipend to Emergency Medical First Responders for assisting folks in the county’s rural areas who need their help. County Judge Ben Leman explained their invaluable service in being able to arrive on the scene of an emergency long before an ambulance can get there.
First Responder Administrator Rhonda Richie said she’d found this out first-hand a few of years ago, shortly after moving to rural Grimes, when her son had to wait nearly an hour for an ambulance following a horse-related accident, because the three ambulances currently stationed here were already busy.
And yes, Richie admitted, that experience did prompt her to get involved with the First Responders in the first place. But, she explained that all the First Responders do what they do because they want to be of service.
And while expressing appreciation for the $5-a-call the Commissioners Court approved, she commented that she certainly uses more gas then that.
Currently, Richie reported, the Navasota Fire department is the only one in Grimes with its own medically-trained personnel, making the service rendered by the county’s eight First-Responders that much more vital.
