GLASGOW — Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Medical Service staff members have only been assigned to the new airport station for a couple of weeks, but EMS director Mike Swift said people are already noticing the difference in response times to the western and northern parts of the county.

“We came out here on a Sunday about 6 o’clock in the evening and the first run we made was to Cave City,” Swift said. “We got there just as the fire department was pulling into the drive and we pulled in behind them. We’ve actually had some runs where we beat fire departments in the response. It’s kind of surprised (them). They’ve looked back and there the ambulance was already. Typically, they’re accustomed to a five- to 10-minute wait ... and it’s been the same way up north with the Hiseville area.”

In emergency situations where every minute can mean the difference between life and death for a patient, decreasing response times is always a high-priority goal for EMS personnel.

“It probably takes anywhere from eight to 10 minutes off the response time to Cave City, which in EMS two minutes is critical, and you start talking about eight to 10 minutes – that’s almost unheard of,” Swift said.

The new facility at Moore Field at the Glasgow Municipal Airport on Ky. 90 west was completed earlier this year and has been occupied for several months by the Air Methods emergency helicopter staff. But after a few delays, there is now also an EMS staff of two and one ambulance assigned there for each 8-hour shift.

“We keep one truck here and then two trucks at headquarters (on East Main Street),” Swift said. “We rotate the crews assigned here.”

The new building has more space than the original station – 110,000 square feet compared to 6,000 square feet. The EMS side has an ambulance bay, office, two bedrooms, bathroom facilities, kitchen and den. The other side of the building has quarters for the Air Methods staff, which includes a pilot, flight nurse, flight paramedic and a mechanic who takes care of maintenance on the helicopter.

Swift said, even though it’s not completed yet, the Veterans Outer Loop is also making a huge impact on response times in some parts of the county.

“I think with the projection of the completion of the outer loop on this side it’s going to make a big difference responding,” he said. “Right now, it’s definitely helped Cave City and Park City area and this side along Ky. 90 ... and the Hiseville area. You can just not imagine, three-quarters of our response time to Cave City used to be in the city limits of Glasgow. It’s a big relief and people have noticed the difference.”

About a week ago, EMS staff at the new station responded to a call on Flint Knob Road. They had been called to the house a couple of times previously and so the residents knew the average time it took for the ambulance to arrive.

“The people there, when we got there, kind of looked up and said, ‘Ya’ll came from the airport didn’t you?’” Swift related in the story. “We said, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ and she said, ‘Well, we could tell.’”

When the portions of the outer loop connecting U.S. 68/Ky. 80 west and Ky. 1297 are finished, Swift expects communities such as Red Cross to reap the benefits because EMS responders will be able to go directly from the airport station, straight across the outer loop to Ky. 1297 and completely bypass anything in town that would slow them down.

He predicts the same thing will happen on the east side of town as far as decreasing response times.

“It will help when they complete the eastern part of the loop, even though it’s in Barren County, it is going to do the same thing cutting the response times from Edmonton and Metcalfe County as the new station has done for responses to Cave City,” he said. “It will probably take about 10 minutes off their response times, so I’m really excited about that.

“When they connect to New Salem Road, East Barren (Volunteer Fire Department) will be able to jump on there on the east part of the county, which is a 25-mile response now. They pass New Salem Road on Cumberland Parkway. You could throw a rock and hit it, (but there’s no direct connection between the two currently).”

There have been some challenges to response times on U.S. Interstate 65, as well, since the addition of barriers between the northbound and southbound lanes.

“The reason being is that with the barriers that are up, we can no longer cut through the median,” Swift said. “We just have to go to a turnaround and so that kind of restricts our ability (to get to the scene).”

Ambulances from the two stations are currently assigned portions of the main roadways that bisect the county depending on the ease or difficulty they have getting to the area.

“Basically, from Park City north and south to the county line, and then from Park City to the Cumberland Parkway, (the airport station is) just taking the southbound side and we’ve got the station from Glasgow taking the northbound side and they’re doing all the Cumberland Parkway,” Swift said. “When they get the outer loop done, then this station will be responsible and they’ll take the parkway and north and south on I-65.”

One of the things Swift would like to see happen with the emergency service, he doesn’t foresee occurring during his tenure. He has been with the local EMS service for 35 years and will celebrate his 60th birthday next year. He said he has recently received approval for the addition of an assistant director position that he will use to train as his successor.

“Eventually, I hope and I’ll not see it, but eventually I think, sooner later we’ll have an ambulance in Cave City and Park City,” he said. “Financially, that’s not possible yet.”

But for now, Swift is more than satisfied to have the new station up and running and making a difference.

“We’re tickled to have this and we’re tickled that we have our air medical here,” he said. “My goal for years was to get something on the west side of town because back even before the economic conditions had changed as it was, in the daylight hours the biggest volume, the highest population density is on the west side of the city because you had all the factories, the nursing homes and all that and the hospital basically is on the northern side,” Swift said. “The outer loop, even just in its simple part right now, has just made it (a quicker) response time. A lot of times now when we go to the hospital, we’ll just go up here and turn left on the outer loop and come in on U.S. 31 E and only have to deal with one traffic light.”

It shaves two minutes off their drive time, according to Swift, and as he and all EMS responders know, two minutes can be a lifetime for a patient.