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Mike Nunley, EMT-P, RN
Director of EMS
24 HOUR EMERGENCY
– CALL 911 –
NON-EMERGENCY CALLS
(615) 896-2520
Poison Control Center
1-800-222-1222
606 East Burton Street
Murfreesboro, TN 37130
(615) 898-7790
Randy White - Media Contact
(615) 904-7533
rwhite@rutherfordcountytn.gov
It is the policy and goal of the Rutherford County Emergency Medical Service to provide the community we serve with the best emergency medical care possible. We will fulfill this obligation twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. We will not be satisfied with a good, average, or excellent overall rating unless we can assure ourselves that every patient receives care appropriate to his needs, commensurate with our talents, training and current medical practices.
We realize the key to the efficient and effective delivery of emergency care is not dependent on equipment per se, but on well-trained, dedicated individuals working together toward a common goal. It is our goal, as administrators of RCEMS, to assemble the best individuals, to equip them, and to structure a system whereby they may accomplish the best emergency care and transportation of the ill and injured to each prospective patient.
Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services is dedicated to the welfare and saftey of residents and visitors through the provision of Advanced Life Support prehospital care, medically directed Technical Rescue and transportation of the ill and injured.
In 1972, the legislature passed the Emergency Medical Services Act, which created the Division of Emergency Medical Services as an agency under the Department of Public Health (House Bill 1444, Chapter 749, Public Acts of 1972, 87th General Assembly). This Division of EMS was created to provide statewide standards for training of personnel, to provide criteria for ambulance configuration, to provide minimum equipment standards, and generally to oversee and to coordinate efforts toward improved emergency medical care.
The Rutherford County Ambulance Service became operational at 12:01 a.m., October 15, 1972. From October 15, 1972, until March 31, 1977, all ambulance operations were based at Rutherford Hospital at the invitation of the hospital. In December 1976, the hospital rescinded its invitation, citing lack of space as a reason, and requested that the Rutherford County Emergency Medical Services remove its operations by June 30, 1977. At the gracious invitation of the City of Murfreesboro, RCEMS operations were moved to McFadden Community Center on April 1, 1977.
With the increased volume of ambulance calls, the addition of personnel, and the change to twenty-four hour shifts, the McFadden location quickly became over-crowded. In 1987, Middle Tennessee Medical Center offered the free use of one of its buildings as an ambulance headquarters. Upon inspection, it was decided that this building needed additional garage space and sleeping quarters in order to be suitable for an ambulance headquarters. A satisfactory arrangement was made between Middle Tennessee Medical Center and Rutherford County Government to lease this building for twenty years, with the cost of the lease being exactly the cost of the building improvements.
Prior to moving from the McFadden location (as our call volume continued to increase) a need became obvious for an ambulance to be located in the Smyrna area. A one-room aluminum storage building was placed on the old Smyrna Hospital property (just off of Hwy. 41-70), where a 24-hour team was placed to cover the North end of the county. We moved from that location when a new Smyrna Hospital and ambulance station were constructed further down Enon Springs Road.
The next station was located in Eagleville after the Eagleville City Council opted to provide their citizens with an EMS facility and quarters. LaVergne City Council later provided a station in their city. These stations are provided at no cost to Rutherford County.
Rutherford County is one of the fastest growing counties in Tennessee. Rutherford County Emergency Medical Service continually strives to keep up with the astounding growth by adding stations throughout the county in order to provide quick response to the county residents. We now have a total of twelve ambulance stations, one Special Operations Center, and one Communication/Dispatch Center.
Rutherford County EMS operates through the jurisdiction of the Rutherford County Board of Commissioners, with guidance from the Public Safety Committee. The County Mayor, the fiscal agent that oversees the General Fund, is responsible for the Ambulance Service. The Director reports directly to the County Mayor.