Ambulance Services Director Jeremy Peck

Locating the North Washington base in the former maintenance garage for the former Shiloh complex has proved to be a large response time saver for the Washington County Ambulance Service, according to director Jeremy Peck.

“We have reduced the response time for emergency calls north of 190th Street by over 12 minutes,” Peck said, who became the service manager when the county took over the service in July 0f 2020.

The cities of Kalona, Wellman and Riverside joined together on an agreement to finance the acquisition of the building, remodel it to include space for two ambulances and  living quarters for ambulance personnel so the base could be operated 24/7.

Peck said that in 2021, there were 792 of the Washington County Ambulance service E911 calls that were serviced by the North Base. “That is about 39% of our total calls,” Peck said. The South ambulance base has an additional 1240 calls that are 911 related.   An additional 760 calls for service that are not 911 related are covered by either ambulance base.

“Our average response time for calls north of 190th Street, including Wellman, Kalona and Riverside is 12 minutes and 30 seconds,” Peck said.

Average response time broken down by city, it is:

Kalona – 8 min., 22 sec.

Wellman – 13 min., 58 sec.

Riverside – 15 min, 48 sec.

Peck also had high praise for all of the Kalona 1st responders, the Wellman QRS servicd and the Riverside Fire and Rescue departments.

“Those dedicated volunteeers are the first on the scene of an emergency and begin taking care of the life threats until we can get there,” Peck said. “The citizens of Washington County is fortunate to have such professional dedicated first responders,” he added. “We would not be able to do our job without their timely assistance.”

“The work of the first responders is invaluable,” he stressed.

“We are also very fortunate to have the great support of the Washington County citizens and help of the government officials,” he added.  “The support we have received has been outstanding.”

Peck has been the director of the ambulance service since the county took it over in July of 2020. He worked part time for Washington County ambulance service for 16 years while also working as a paramedic for the Johnson County Ambulance Service for 19 years. He also volunteers as a member of the Wellman Ambulance QRS.

Washington County Ambulance has 39 employees.

Kalona City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh pointed out that the Washington County Ambulance North Base that is in Southern Kalona on 133rd avenue was created in in partnership with Washington County and the newly founded Washington County Ambulance service in 2020. 

Once the need was presented by the Washington County Ambulance service to have an ambulance stationed with crew in northern Washington County, the Kalona City Council was unanimous in its support of offering up 2,400 sf of usable space.  The space was one of three bays in a building that was gifted to the City via Shiloh through the voluntary annexation process.   

“The positives for the northern Washington county residents were felt right away as response time for calls for service was lessened,” Schlabaugh noted.

“The city allows for the space to be utilized rent free by Washington County Ambulance,” he added. “The service pays the utilities and general upkeep.”