Department Profile
History
Grand County Emergency Medical Service has a proud and established history as a premier pre-hospital provider. The department was formed in 1970 as a Basic level ambulance provider, responding in a two Cadillac ambulances as a combination service under the sheriff’s office. The ambulance service started out in a little room at the courthouse and stationed the ambulances where planning and zoning are located today. In 1974 the ambulance service became its own department. In the early years the ambulance staff diligently worked to attain a high standard of care.
These dedicated volunteers made strides to raise the bar introducing EMT-Intermediates in the 1980’s and moving forward to establish Paramedics in the 1990’s. With each achievement Grand County Ambulance was making a difference to give life a chance. During the first twenty years Grand County Ambulance built a strong foundation for future EMS professionals to continue serving a growing community.
Grand County Emergency Medical Service continues to grow as a prominent EMS organization. The department provides Basic Life Support, Advanced Life Support, and Critical Care Paramedic services with a small dedicated staff. The department became a full-time paid EMS Department in 2001. In 2003 the citizens of Grand County stepped in to support EMS with a 2Mill property tax. The support of our citizens has and continues to be a driving force behind GCEMS today. GCEMS has a state of the art fleet of ambulances, QRUs, and medical equipment to give life a chance. Grand County EMS continues to grow to meet the needs of the community through an array of 911 emergency point of care medical services, out of county transport services, public education, and community healthcare services. The staff of Grand County EMS proudly serves the citizens of all of Grand County and the Towns of Fraser, Granby, Grand Lake, Hot Sulphur Springs, Kremmling, and Winter Park.
Grand County EMS provides a tiered level of response. This tiered system provides the EMT-Basics greater autonomy as primary care givers. The EMT-BIVs provide emergency care with interventions such as establishing I.V. lines, defibrillation, and emergency airway initiation with the King Airway. The EMT-BIV staff are the foundation of the department providing initial patient care and treatment. The EMT-Intermediate and Paramedic staff responds as the Advanced Life Support providers to administer an even more intense patient care during an emergency.
Paramedics and the Critical Care Paramedics are equipped with state of the art medical equipment including the LifePak 15, I-Stat, IV pumps, and portable ventilators. All of the professional EMS staff are required to maintain numerous certifications including National Registry & Colorado EMTS Section EMS certifications. The EMS staff attends more than 200 hours of continuing education and training.
Grand County EMS is vigilant and takes pride in providing a security blanket of protection to the public. As a healthcare safety net GCEMS continuously trains, educates, and reviews all medical practices and reviews, researches new medical therapies. This high level of dedication to providing emergent life saving care is built on a strong education & training program. In addition to the professional EMS staff the Training & Education Division provides a diverse community education program. These programs have also garnered a public & private partnership to deploy more than 50 AEDs throughout the community. The Education & Training Division has expanded to provide initial EMT training to students of Middle Park High School & West Grand High School. The High School EMT courses provide high school seniors with job ready skills when they graduate and prepare for the world.
Grand County EMS’s central station and administration is located in Granby, Grand County, Colorado. Grand County is located just West of Denver and North of the I-70 corridor on U.S. Highway 40 in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Grand County is a destination community for more than a million visitors to the ski resorts, vast forest, rivers, and Rocky Mountain National Park. Grand County provides a host of outdoor recreational activities including hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails, hiking trails, mountain climbing, downhill skiing, cross country skiing, snowboarding, and four-wheeler trails.
Grand County is known for its world class fly fishing and game hunting. Grand County is home to the “Grand” River now today called the Colorado River. Grand County Emergency Medical Service is a state of the art ALS pre-hospital provider with small town pride. “Professional care with a personal touch”
Established
January 1970
Service Type
Third Service, a department of the County of Grand and operates at the pleasure of the Board of County Commissioners.
Level of Care
Basic Life Support - Paramedic Advanced Life Support – Critical Care
Coverage Area
Grand County, 1875 square miles Towns of Fraser, Granby, Grand Lake, Hot Sulphur Springs, Kremmling, & Winter Park
Population
15,860 (More than a million visitors & guests annually)
Call Volume
3000 Annually
Stations
Four 24/7 Staffed Stations
Station 1 - Headquarters – Granby, Colorado
Station 2 - Fraser, Colorado
Station 3 - Grand Lake, Colorado
Station 4 - Kremmling, Colorado
Fleet
The GCEMS fleet consists of state-of-the-art ambulances designed and set up as Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU), to provide immediate lifesaving care and critical out-of-county transports.
- Six 4x4 Ford F-450 AEV TraumaHawk ambulances
- Two Chevrolet C4500 double stretcher ambulances
- Two Ford Sprinter Type II Ambulances
- Six Quick Response/Command Units
- One 4X4 GMC 5500 Emergency Support Unit (ESU16) for Special Operations
- Two snowmobiles for backcountry emergency medical response
- Two double four-wheelers for backcountry and large event all hazards and emergency medical response
- One Polaris RZR UTV for backcountry and special operations medical needs
- One Regional Mass Casualty Response Trailer (MCI trailer)
- Two VMS boards (Variable Message Boards), for emergency notification and community information
- One cone / sign trailer for all-hazards response
Deployment
- Four static stations with a dynamic posting pattern of staging points for maximum protection. This plan utilizes station fill-in first, then pre-determined posting sites for staging of ambulances and paramedic response units.
Services Offered
- ALS 911 Scene Response
- ALS and Critical Care Interfacility Transport Services
- Backcountry Emergency Response
- Water Rescue
- Special event medicine and standby services
- Initial and ongoing EMS education
Mountain Medical Response Team
The Mountain Medical Response Team or MMRT is the department’s specialty team. Mountain Medical Response Team operates as the medical support for Grand County's professional all-volunteer Search and Rescue Team. The Mountain Medical Response Team provides an array of special services in a rural mountain community including:
- Wildland Fire Medical Response Team
- Tactical EMS
- Bike Team
- Special Event Coverage
Professional Programs
The EMS Education Division provides a broad range of educational and skills training in-house.
- Pre-hospital continuing education site
- Middle Park High School EMT Basic Course
- West Grand High School EMT Basic Course
- Initial training site for Adult EMT-Basic Course
- National core training and education site for:
- Basic Life Support Courses including CPR
- First Aid
- Advanced Life Support
- Neonatal Resuscitation Course
- Pediatric Education for Pre-Hospital Providers
- I.V. Endorsement Course
- Distracted Driving Diversion Programs
- Community First Aid & CPR Programs
- Car Seat Inspection Station
The Duties & Responsibilities of Grand County EMS
- Protect life. Grand County EMS is a vital community service designed to intervene in life-threatening emergencies with emergent medical & trauma care therapies to sustain the quality of life for human beings. GCEMS is woven into the fabric of the Grand County community and provides a blanket of protection, 24 hours a day / 365 days a year, for the citizens & visitors through a robust emergency ambulance deployment plan. The GCEMS deployment plan includes specialized emergency medical ambulances designed for the mountains equipped with the finest medical equipment to provide rapid response, bedside and on-scene point-of-care by highly trained EMTs, AEMTs, EMT-Intermediates, and Paramedics. GCEMS is committed to success through active & progressive emergency medical care.
- Ensure the citizens and visitors of Grand County have immediately available ground ambulance medical transport services offering Critical Care Paramedic Advanced Life Support therapies and interventions as well as EMT Basic Life Support services to tertiary medical care facilities outside of Grand County.
- Furnish the citizens & visitors enjoying the backcountry recreational opportunities of Grand County with a trained, skilled, and technically equipped wilderness rescue service from the Grand County EMS Mountain Medical Response Team.
- Provide the community with training and education programs for emergency preparedness and life-saving emergency techniques.
- Support the citizens & visitors of Grand County during natural and manmade emergencies with a functional disaster services response system.
- Promote injury prevention and life-saving skill through active community programs, i.e. Lifesaving Is For Everyone program, Car Seat Safety Inspection program, High School EMT course, and Open enrollment EMT courses.
- Participate at community functions & events throughout Grand County making available to the citizens & visitors on-site emergency medical and trauma care by trained EMS professionals.
- Support community firefighters and law enforcement officers with emergency scene safety services and immediate medical response during on-scene operations.