As director of the Highlands County EMS, Steve Plunkett Coltharp could work strictly as an administrator. ...more

February 2, 2009

When ambulance crews rolled up on the aftermath of a violent car wreck nearly three years ago, they found taxi driver John Kelly dead, his body partially ejected from his cab. ...more

January 15, 2009

When ambulance crews rolled up on the aftermath of a violent car wreck nearly three years ago, they found taxi driver John Kelly dead, his body partially ejected from his cab. ...more

January 14, 2009

The easiest thing to say to an elected leader is "Cut the budget!" The hardest thing for an elected leader to say to his or her constituents is: "Cutting the budget is the wrong thing to do." We've heard both of these things recently during county budget discussions. It's our opinion that making drastic cuts is the worst thing the county could do - until there is no other alternative. ...more

August 17, 2008

There are few county services more instrumental in saving lives than its EMS force ––and just like a fire department –– every second counts. Understanding how crucial it is to dispatch an ambulance as quickly as possible, and considering how our population balloons in the winter, our EMS officials have made some needed changes to make sure that everyone gets served on time. ...more

December 31, 2007

LAKE PLACID — At 8 a.m. last Thursday, paramedic John Dyess and EMT Todd Kreulen parked a Highlands County EMS ambulance at the Tomoka Heights station, unlocked the door and staffed this station for the first time since mid-April. That put county EMS back to its full daily staffing level of eight ambulances, including two in the Lake Placid area. About four hours later, Dyess and Kreulen responded to their first 911 call from the Tomoka station, a former model home just north of Florida Hospital on U.S. 27 South. They reached a patient in respiratory distress in less than five minutes, well within EMS's goal of a six-minute average response time. Steve Coltharp, acting EMS director, said reopening the Tomoka station improves response times not only in the Lake Placid area but also throughout the county. The county's recent hiring of two paramedics and three EMTs solved a manpower shortage that forced EMS to reduce its ambulance crews from eight to seven. ...more

November 13, 2007

SEBRING — On average, a 911 call brings a Highlands County EMS ambulance crew to the scene of a medical emergency in five to six minutes. "That's an excellent response time for a rural county," said Steve Coltharp, interim director of county EMS. ...more

October 4, 2007