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Safe crews make safe care.

Rested drivers. Trucks that pass inspection. Staffed shifts and real breaks. Leaders who listen. It’s not too much to ask — it’s what a model agency does.

Add your name See what we stand for

On the ground and in the air:

EMTs Paramedics Nurses Flight Nurses Flight Paramedics Flight EMTs Pilots Dispatchers

What every crew already knows

The late call at shift change that turns a twelve into a sixteen or a twenty-four into a thirty-six. The five pending non-emergent transfers out of district at 0330 after running all morning, day and night. The truck that gets one more run on a bad tire or with hot air in the box. Poor safety control. None of it is in the policy manual — and all of it is why crews leave.

From the field

The truck that will “make one more run.”

Lunch at hour nine, eaten in the cab.

Checking tomorrow’s roster to see who your partner is — and hoping it’s not the one everyone knows shouldn’t be driving.

What we stand for

Safe on the road

Rested drivers. No one should be behind the wheel at hour 12 or 24 without rest standards.
Scene safe? Weather too. Bad weather, poor visibility, an unsafe destination or route — crews can delay or refuse non-emergent transfers until safety is assured.
Trucks that pass. KBEMS vehicle rules enforced, not ignored. Every available asset equipped per standards.
Always reachable. Cellular coverage in every truck and portable.
Know who is calling. Every P25 radio with a unique and accurate ID and name at the console, and an emergency button someone answers.

Time that is ours

Staffed shifts. Enough crews on every shift.
No forced holdovers. Not without proper pay.
Days off are off. No mandatory call-ins.
On-call is paid. Waiting by the phone is work.
Eight hours off after a twelve. Rest before the next shift, guaranteed, and no more than seven days in a row.
Real breaks. An uninterrupted 30-minute meal break, paid if you work through it — and a quiet place to take it.
Training we can attend. Not straight after a shift. Night shift are people too.
Work/life balance. Your leave is your time. No mandatory meetings on vacation. No calls or texts when you’ve finally managed to relax.

Safe on every call

Behavioral-health transports. Screening, a second provider when needed, the right to disengage.
Families heard. When families raise a safety concern, it gets answered.
Violence protection. EMTs and Paramedics named in KRS, and protection in practice on every call.

Speak up safely

A safe partner. No one should ride with a partner who can’t drive safely, makes unwanted advances, crosses lines or makes the truck feel unsafe. Concerns are documented, investigated and acted on — not waved off as “he said, she said.”
Report without retaliation. Harassment and safety reports go to someone outside the chain of command, and the person who reports is protected. Nobody gets told to keep quiet.
Handled the right way. Complaints are investigated promptly and impartially by someone outside the chain of command. Two people in every meeting, the option to ask for an interviewer of a particular gender, a written record, and no contact between the parties while it’s open.
Safe to step away. Anyone who reports harassment or violence can leave the area with pay, take up to two paid shifts away, and is never transferred just for reporting. No discipline for reporting violence, and no one discourages a police report.
Someone in your corner. Trained Persons of Confidence support anyone who reports harassment, from the first conversation to the outcome.

Leaders who lead

Transparency. Staffing, overtime, safety and call volume numbers in the open.
Pay in the open. Published pay ranges by region.
Human and strong. Leaders who lead by example, know the job, communicate with compassion and back their crews.
A voice where decisions are made. When staffing, budgets and policy are decided, the people doing the work have a say — through representatives they choose, not only through management.
Keep good people. Retention, not churn — a full-time core and a career path worth staying for. Know your worth.
A seat at the table. EMS in Kentucky bargaining law.
Every crew counts. Covered by the role, not the employer — public, private, hospital-based or air.

The bar is already set.

The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) holds agencies to national standards — including a culture of safety and ambulances built to a safety standard. Is your agency accredited?

CAAS does not endorse this site.

CAAS Standards v4.0 — how agencies operate and lead

Ground Vehicle Standard — ambulances built for safety

Mark the wires.

Flight Nurses, Flight Paramedics, Flight EMTs and Pilots land at night beside power lines and towers they can’t see. Orange marker balls are cheap. Wire strikes are not.

Owenton, Kentucky · October 7, 2024

Air Evac 133

A Pilot, a Flight Nurse and a Flight Paramedic were killed when their helicopter struck a guy wire on a 601-foot tower beside the high school landing zone. A clear afternoon, a low sun. The NTSB’s final cause is still pending — but marked guy wires near landing zones could prevent strikes like this one.

Source: NTSB preliminary report ERA25FA005

Where

Near helipads and landing zones, and over every river, valley and highway.

How

To the FAA standard: big orange, white and yellow spheres, about 200 feet apart.

Keep them up

A faded ball is a missing ball. Inspect and replace.

Map them

One shared hazard map, relayed by dispatch on every air request.

Stand with Kentucky EMS

Crews, families, patients and neighbors. Your name stays private unless you choose otherwise.