Our History
Stevens County Ambulance Service (SCAS) is dedicated to providing excellence and regional leadership in advanced level EMS and education to west central Minnesota for over 40 years. We have seen many changes and improvements through the years as EMS in Minnesota continues to lead the nation. Since 1978, SCAS has pushed and led the way in developing rural EMS agencies and advancing care. Designation as a Minnesota approved EMS training site in 1982, continuous upgraded level of service provision, becoming one of the first rural BLS ambulance service to train and acquire EMT-defibrillator trained personnel and utilizing a "semi-automatic external defibrillator" (Heart-Aid) device in the early 1980's, and becoming the first ALS level service in West Central Minnesota in the mid 1990's. A culture of continuous improvement, focus on education, support of our team, good stewardship and service, and constant upgrade of medical devices helps us to reach our goal of serving our communities as a service of excellence.
In 1996, we upgraded our Basic Life Support (BLS) level of service to full-time Advanced Life Support utilizing paramedic trained personnel, 24 hours per day. Through generous finanacial support from the Otto Bremer Foundation, West Central EMS Corporation, private contributions and the Stevens County Board of Commissioners, we were able to educate eight local community staff members as Paramedics through Ridgewater College.
Our goal is to continue to enhance and improve the quality and level of service and personnel qualifications to offer the highest level of service to the people of Stevens County and the surrounding area. This is, and always will be, our primary mission and committment.
Stevens County Ambulance Service currently provides Advanced Life Support (ALS) level care along with critical care ALS inter-facility patient transfers from area hospitals in western Minnesota. Serving Benson, Appleton, Ortonville, Graceville, Wheaton, Elbow Lake, Alexandria, Morris and surrounding hospitals for critical care advanced life support patient care and ambulance transportation when requested.
The service utilizes five ALS equipped ambulances in the fleet along with aproximately 35 full and part-time EMT's and Paramedics. There are many volunteer emergency personnel throughout the county and in the surrounding communities who provide important emergency medical first response services for the communities of Hancock, Donnelly, Chokio, Alberta, Cyrus and Herman. The area fire departments, law enforcement agencies, medical responders, emergency 911 communications specialists, hospital and clinic personnel, along with all area emergency resources and personnel, work together to take care of the emergency healthcare needs of the public every day.
Many THANKS to those who have gone before us, and to those who continue to serve in Emergency Medical Services for Stevens County and the surrounding area.
Morris is home to the University of Minnesota - Morris campus and the collaboration between the ambulance service and the University for over 30 years has provided UMM students with an opportunity to obtain Emergency Medical Technician certification, work experience, and income opportunities while attending classes at UMM. These highly motivated university students provide the service with a steady resource of personnel for the ambulance service and area healthcare providers.
We continue to compile and research the history and people who have contributed to the development and provision of EMS in Stevens County and with the Stevens County Ambulance Service. We would like to acknowledge the contributions, efforts, and service people gave to establish and provide emergency services in the past. If you have information you can provide to help further develop the history of the service in Stevens County, please contact us at info@stevensems.com We welcome any pictures, news articles, and personal stories that can be archived and preserved.
We developed a connection with Ringdahl EMS in 2005. Randy Fischer currently serves as operations director for Ringdahl EMS - Minnesota and North Dakota ALS operations, and in addition he serves as Chief Executive Officer of RWF Enterprises Inc, - Stevens County Ambulance & EMS Education. Opportunities for all of our combined staff and area EMS personnel are available through our relationship with Ringdahl EMS and other associated companies including Para-Corp-all risk medical management services who provides disaster strike team deployments, disaster medical response, remote medical contract work, wild land firefighting medical support, and international medical work and education.