Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Medical Services is set to cut the ribbon on a new ambulance station in Haywood at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, with the goal of shrinking ambulance response times that have stretched close to 20 minutes in parts of southern Barren County. The station sits at 31 Matthews Mill Road, near the corner of Matthews Mill Road and Scottsville Road, south of Glasgow. A soft opening is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9, ahead of the public ceremony three days later.
The project traces back to the ambulance service corporation’s board of directors, which approved the Haywood station after reviewing county call volumes and response times to specific areas, according to Glasgow News 1. Southern Barren County communities had previously been served out of the East Main Street station. Dr. Joe Middleton, Barren-Metcalfe EMS executive director and chief executive officer, has pointed to one area in particular as a sign the coverage needed to change.
Why Response Times Became a Flashpoint
Back in May, Middleton said response times to the Austin Tracy area of Barren County were running about 19 minutes, and that times to other communities in the southern part of the county were too high as well, the outlet reported at the time. Those figures reflected service from the existing two facilities before the Haywood station was built. Once the new station is fully operational, Middleton said, it will help reduce response times across southern Barren County.
Kentucky’s ambulance rules require emergency calls to be dispatched or relayed within two minutes after it is determined an ambulance is needed. If the closest agency cannot have a vehicle responding within 10 minutes of dispatch, it must notify the next closest appropriate agency; the rule calls for notification and mutual aid, not a guarantee that an ambulance will arrive within 10 minutes. The state regulation spells out those dispatch and backup requirements.
The agency’s broader numbers have looked different in the past. Back in 2021, WBKO reported that Barren-Metcalfe County EMS’s total response time across the agency was under ten minutes, a general figure from that year rather than a measurement of the Austin Tracy area specifically. That same 2021 report noted the agency was running its second EMT training class, with 18 people taking part, as the service worked to grow its ranks.
Construction Nearly Wrapped Ahead of the Ceremony
Andrew Collins of Collins Custom Homes, the contractor on the project, told the board on Oct. 28 that the facility was effectively complete, with only minor details left to finish. Collins Custom Homes had submitted the lowest of three construction bids for the station, totaling $579,275, per the April report from Glasgow News 1. Board members and ambulance service personnel toured the station during the board’s most recent meeting held there.
Middleton praised Collins and his business partner, Brad Dubree, for their work on the facility. “They’ve tried to meet every need we have found,” Middleton said, according to the outlet’s report. Preparations for full staffing at the new station are expected to follow Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
