Lifeguard ambulance service on the job with new look
Lifeguard ambulance services owner John Roche said the first day on the job in Santa Rosa County for his ambulances and crews was the busiest day ever for emergency services in the county's history.
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Lifeguard ambulance services owner John Roche said the first day on the job in Santa Rosa County for his ambulances and crews was the busiest day ever for emergency services in the county's history. "We responded to 50 calls and transported between 40 - 50 patients all on that one day," Roche said.

Lifeguard ambulance service took over Santa Rosa County's emergency services contract Wednesday, Aug. 1. Santa Rosa County Lifeguard Director Chris Rucker said they took over Rural Metro's contract for now. Their own contract with the county kicks in Oct. 1.

That means until Oct. 1 they will have the same number of ambulances Rural Metro had in the county, which is nine. That will increase Oct. 1 to 12 ambulances. They will also follow Rural Metro's contractual agreements with the county until Oct. 1, which include response times. The Lifeguard contract demands faster response times than Rural Metro's contract does.

Roche said by the first of September the Lifeguard ambulances rolling in Santa Rosa County will have an all new look.

"If you look at the license plates on the ambulances we are using in the county now you will see some plated for Georgia, some for Louisiana, some for Texas or even Tennessee. That's because it takes 110 days to build a new ambulance, and we had less than 110 days from the time we were awarded the contract to when we had to start rolling here. These are all brand new ambulances, but they were being built for other states and we pulled them from the assembly line and sent them here temporarily. Each one looks a little different -- since some states still require the orange stripe, and some require the box ambulance, and some have a longer body."

He said the ambulances being made specifically for Santa Rosa County will all be done by Sept. 1. "They look different from anything here now," he said. He said they generally have four new ambulances coming off the assembly line every month to go someplace nationwide.

Roche said they have hired all the Rural Metro employees who met their basic standard requirements. "And we have launched a national recruiting program for Santa Rosa County. We are hiring some paramedics, for example, to come here from as far away as Ohio."

In the South end of the county Lifeguard now has an ambulance assigned to Gulf Breeze City and one at the border between Midway and Navarre. But all ambulances roam and do not stay at one station, Rucker said.

Roche said the main headquarters in the county now for Lifeguard is at the old Avalon- Nissan car dealership on Avalon Road. "We purchased the 10,000 sq. ft. building that sits on six acres and we are remodeling it right now. But the remodeling will not interfere with the daily operation of the ambulance service."