Wythe County honored by VACO for hybrid EMS model and Reed Creek Blueway

Joe Lurch, representing the Virginia Association of Counties, presented Wythe County with two Achievement Awards during the board’s June 30 meeting. The awards recognized the county’s hybrid Wythe County Emergency Services staffing model and the Reed Creek Blueway project.

"What you've implemented here is an innovative response," Joe Lurch said, praising the hybrid staffing approach that supplements volunteer fire departments with part-time paid personnel and citizen training. He said the awards program looks for solutions that are innovative, copyable and involve intergovernmental cooperation.

A county official highlighted that the hybrid EMS model was developed after the board asked staff to draft a pro forma and that it was implemented to address daytime coverage gaps among volunteers. The official said the program has improved response reliability and credited the county’s management and provider teams for recent successful outcomes, including timely STEMI transfers and a recent survivor rescued and medevaced after receiving CPR.

For the Reed Creek Blueway, staff described a multiyear effort that relied on easements (including from APCO) and a $100,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation to create Portage Parks and public paddling access without acquiring large tracts of land. Joe Lurch said the judges saw it as a model that leverages existing assets while addressing private-property access conflicts.

The board and award presenters paused for photos following the presentations.

The presentation and recognition were informational; no board action was required beyond accepting the awards.