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Health and public safety updates: ambulance calls rise, dental program planned, and emergency exercises set
Summary
Ambulance transports increased in September and staffing is fully staffed; the health department unveiled a three-year community health assessment and plans a school-based dental hygienist program; emergency management announced FEMA coordination and a Nov. 7 full-scale exercise with MPLX.
Officials updated the Greenup County Fiscal Court on public-health and public-safety operations and upcoming exercises during the Oct. 14 meeting.
Ambulance Director Kevin Callahan said the ambulance authority recorded 631 emergency transports in September, up by about 50 from the prior month, and reported 18,668 miles traveled for those transports. He said the authority has responded to 6,625 calls so far in 2025 and that staffing is at 100 percent; an EMT training class with 19 students was slated to begin that night. "We are completely full, and I actually have a waiting list of people who want to work for the ambulance authority," Callahan said.
Public safety Director Buford Harley asked the court to approve hiring three full-time 9‑1‑1 telecommunicators (Stephanie Huffman, Winter Wentz and Ashley Neese) at $16 per hour, with probation tied to DOCJT certification; the court approved the hires. Harley also requested permission to surplus current drones and later purchase three modern replacements; the court approved the surplus motion.
Emergency Management Director Garth Wireman briefed the court on FEMA coordination related to a prior April event, scheduled State Office of Training (SOT) inspections, and a full-scale exercise on Nov. 7 in partnership with MPLX at the South Shore Fire Department; he reported that the mobile command bus and drone assets have supported missing-juvenile searches where the juveniles were located safely.
Health Department Director Chris Crum presented a community health assessment and a community health improvement plan required by the state for funding. Crum highlighted dental access as a top priority and described a program placing a dental hygienist in the Grant County School District with plans to expand to other districts; he also described a revised food-score placard regulation that will show A/B/C ratings and include a QR code linking to detailed inspection violations.
Why it matters: Emergency response capacity, ambulance staffing, and public-health programming directly affect resident access to urgent care and preventive services. The court approved hires and equipment-surplus actions that leaders say will modernize capacity in communications and field operations.
Next steps: Hiring actions are to be processed administratively; the emergency-management and health department activities will proceed according to their training and grant timelines. The transcript does not list precise procurement schedules for drone replacements or funding details for the dental program expansion.
