11 New Jobs Lined Up for Aiken County EMS

Aiken, SC—We don’t always think about them, until we need them…

Jeri Lynne Parrott, Aiken, SC: “Minutes and seconds in life-threatening situations make a difference.“

Jeri Parrot has needed an ambulance on multiple occasions…for her grandmother, her daughter, and herself.

Parrott: “We were coming from Wagener, and totaled my Nissan Pathfinder, and they were there, all the way out in Wagener, I don’t know how they got there as fast as they did.“

The goal is to get there as fast as possible, and folks in charge say, for months, they needed more people to make more runs, more quickly.

Now, they’re getting help: 11 new hires approved by County Council.

Dominick Bianco, Aiken County EMS Director: “Strictly to people that are on an ambulance that will take care of Aiken County residents.“

Last month, the newest substation opened, but the bay was empty. Officials said there was no one extra to man the station, no back-ups, no one to “fill in” if someone was out sick.

Bianco: “Let’s say you work for an administrative department. If you go on vacation, nobody fills that position. You come back, you say ‘Wow, I was on vacation, now I’ve got to do all this work.‘ Well, we don’t have that type of opportunity here.“

But now, 11 people will be filling in the gaps, and to people like Jeri Parrot, that’s a gap worth filling.

Parrott: “They provide a service that’s important, and it’s money well-spent in my opinion.“

The money will last EMS until the end of the fiscal year. County Council will put additional money into next year’s budget to fund the 11 new hire’s salaries.

Aiken County EMS is currently accepting applications.