Response Time

shappell@herald-mail.com Downtown residents in need of emergency medical attention will for the next month or two be only blocks away, in many cases, from the responding ambulance. A Community Rescue Service official said that keeping an ambulance and people to staff it at the Antietam Fire Co. station on Summit Avenue, closer to downtown and the West End, is literally a matter of life and death. CRS Assistant Chief David Hays said an ambulance will be kept at the Summit Avenue station as part of a 30- to 60-day trial to study the response time to calls between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Hays said CRS intends to permanently place a staffed ambulance at a location downtown in the near future, pending the results of the study.

Antietam Call Center Antietam Call Center of Hagerstown has been honored by the Association of TeleServices International with the 2009 Award of Excellence for the sixth consecutive year. An independent panel of judges scored call-handling skills such as courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients. If a company scored 80 percent or more in all categories, it earned an Award of Excellence. Cornerstone Wealth Management Group Cornerstone Wealth Management Group in Hagerstown was named a Top Wealth Manager in the July/August issue of Wealth Manager magazine.

Community Rescue Service is in negotiations with Halfway ambulance officials because CRS wants to have an ambulance substation in Hagerstown's South End, officials said Tuesday. CRS officials want to improve the response time to the South End, which from their 511 E. Franklin St. headquarters is now three to four minutes, said Chief Chris Amos. The response time will be about the same from the new headquarters on Eastern Boulevard when it is expected to open in mid-September, Amos said.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Former Ranson Police Chief Everett "Ed" Boober won the four-way Democratic primary for the Democratic nomination to run for Jefferson County Sheriff Tuesday, according to unofficial returns. With all 30 precincts reporting, Boober collected 1,982 votes, John A. Jefferies received 899 votes, S. Marshall Harris had 439 votes and Jerry L. Rouss had 224 votes, according to returns. Boober thanked voters for their support following his Democratic nomination at the Jefferson County Courthouse Tuesday night.

laurae@herald-mail.com Surgeons are responding faster to the emergency room since Washington County Hospital reopened its trauma center in October. The change counters common expectations, given the fact that trauma surgeons are no longer required to stay in the hospital when they're on call. But trauma center administrators say it's one sign the new trauma program is working well a year after a crisis that culminated in a four-month shutdown of the program. "The proof is in the pudding.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The Berkeley County Ambulance Authority will have to pay emergency service employees who volunteer at fire departments or adopt a policy prohibiting paid employees from responding to emergency calls during nonworking hours. Federal labor laws prohibit paid employees from volunteering in the same capacity for the same company. They must get paid for the service, according to Authority President Gary Collis. In the past, that posed no problem for the county's emergency service employees because the five volunteer fire departments were separate entities and were licensed individually.

tarar@herald-mail.com Washington County's most active emergency service provider is below national standards in response time and number of calls missed, county Emergency Services Director Joe Kroboth reported Tuesday. Kroboth was directed by the Washington County Board of Commissioners to evaluate the services provided by Community Rescue Service, which missed 61 calls in February, March and April. Kroboth said that despite being below national standards, CRS provides above average services when compared with other emergency service providers in the county.

"You know, back when Jimmy Carter ran for president, I voted for him, but I wouldn't vote for him to be a dogcatcher now. How could he stand up before the U.S. people, the American people, and say that Joe Wilson made a racist statement when he told Obama 'You lie'? I don't see anything the matter with that at all. " - Sharpsburg "I was calling about the article in Thursday morning's paper about the Pleasant Valley police issues. The southern end of the county does not exist to the Hagerstown natives, county associations or the police.

KEEDYSVILLE - The Washington County Resident Deputy program isn't perfect, but it's worthwhile, according to some residents who want to keep the service and have suggestions about improving it. Town Mayor Lee Brandenburg and the council have discussed dropping the program because of rising costs, reports of inconsistent coverage and slow response times. The subject is expected to be on the agenda for tonight's council meeting. Keedysville property owner Rene Grossnickle said he wants to continue the resident deputy program but believes more coverage is needed on Main Street.

GERRARDSTOWN, W.Va - Local police agencies are doing what they can - including beefing up patrols and making arrests - to address a rash of problems in a Gerrardstown neighborhood, officials said Wednesday. Calls complaining of loud parties, noisy motorbike riding, loitering groups of youths with knives and vandalism started coming in last month, police officials said. A complaint of a loud party on July 25 led to the Aug. 16 arrest of Vickie Creamer, 36, of Route 1, Box 78M, Gerrardstown, on charges of cultivating a controlled substance, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records.

A Franklin County fire chief is blaming a bridge closure for delaying the fire company's response to a house fire. "That bridge that PennDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) decided to shut down on Rt. 16 made us take a detour and cost us at least 10 minutes in response. A fire doubles in size every two to four minutes," said Dusty Stoner, fire chief of Mercersburg Montgomery Peters and Warren Fire department. To respond to Thursday's 12:24 a.m. house fire at 11496 Fisher Drive in Montgomery Township, Stoner said MMP&W crews followed the six-mile detour traveling on Pa. 416 south to Welsh Run to Welsh Run Road until returning to Pa. 16. No injuries to the homeowners or firefighters were reported, Stoner said.

"You know, back when Jimmy Carter ran for president, I voted for him, but I wouldn't vote for him to be a dogcatcher now. How could he stand up before the U.S. people, the American people, and say that Joe Wilson made a racist statement when he told Obama 'You lie'? I don't see anything the matter with that at all. " - Sharpsburg "I was calling about the article in Thursday morning's paper about the Pleasant Valley police issues. The southern end of the county does not exist to the Hagerstown natives, county associations or the police.

ROHRERSVILLE -- A variety of topics, from the effectiveness of a police substation in the Pleasant Valley area to how police use fingerprints in solving crimes, were discussed Wednesday night during a public meeting about crime concerns in southern Washington County. About 45 people at the Rohrersville Ruritan Schoolhouse heard from a panel of speakers that included Washington County Sheriff Douglas W. Mullendore, Washington County Commissioners Kristin B. Aleshire and William J. Wivell, County Administrator Gregory Murray, Lt. David Kloos of the Maryland State Police and Kevin Lewis, director of emergency services for Washington County.

Antietam Call Center Antietam Call Center of Hagerstown has been honored by the Association of TeleServices International with the 2009 Award of Excellence for the sixth consecutive year. An independent panel of judges scored call-handling skills such as courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients. If a company scored 80 percent or more in all categories, it earned an Award of Excellence. Cornerstone Wealth Management Group Cornerstone Wealth Management Group in Hagerstown was named a Top Wealth Manager in the July/August issue of Wealth Manager magazine.

FAIRPLAY -- The Washington County Commissioners decided Tuesday to set deadlines for Fairplay Volunteer Fire Co. to address staffing and service problems or face funding cuts and possible decertification. The company has seven days to accept the county's offer to add a paid county staff member to the company during daytime hours and 90 days to restore its first-responder service, the commissioners said. That decision came after a presentation by Washington County Director of Fire and Emergency Services Kevin L. Lewis, who revealed new details about the company's response rate, staffing levels and certifications during the commissioners meeting.

Board becoming a full-time job To the editor: Recently the Washington County school system, and board members in particular, have been criticized over a bus incident involving a kindergarten student. Some of this criticism has been unwarranted and some has been valid. Investigations into the event and the personnel involved must be thorough, and, by law, must remain confidential. Thus, criticism over the lack of public information as to the personnel involved is unwarranted.

"I'd like to put in a vote of thanks for all the people, all the workers and nurses aides on the eighth floor at Washington County Hospital. I was just in there for a week and they all treated me wonderfully. And especially to Julie, who helped me get my walker that I needed so bad. Thank you all. " - Hagerstown "To all the people who would like the new hospital built in Downsville who say that the doctors want it built on Robinwood so they don't have to travel far from their offices: Have you ever had a heart attack or a real medical emergency?

Editor's note- When calling Mail Call, please try to keep your response time to 30 seconds. The Mail Call line is filling up faster now because callers are leaving very long messages. More callers will be able to call if the the responses are kept to 30 seconds. Thank you. My name is Ray. I'm calling regarding the young lady who assisted me at the Weis store on Dual Highway. I would like to say thank you very much. I thought I was having a sugar attack but it turns out that I was having a seizure.