Mitchell County said last week that there is still a need for emergency medical technicians to staff the new Mitchell County Emergency Medical Service, which officially took over from Mitchell Medics Dec. 16.
The new service is led by Director Landon Gouge, who has worked in EMS services in both Mitchell and Yancey counties.
“I just wanted to come back, to be home, be back with friends, and be back here in the county to help get this system up,” Gouge said earlier this month.
The private contractor Mitchell Medics ran emergency services in Mitchell County since 2021, but the county began looking into operating its own service when Mitchell Medics was purchased by another company earlier this year.
Gouge said that while there will be superficial changes to emergency services in Mitchell County, the essential service will remain the same.
“The trucks will look different. The people will wear slightly different uniforms,” he said. “But the thing is, it’s still the same service the county has been getting.”
At a meeting of the Board of County Commissioners in early December, County Manager Allen Cook said that the recruitment and hand-over process was going well, with dozens of applications received for open positions.
“This is kind of neat, thinking we’re starting up, and one of the things you need is you need some buzz on it, and you need a lot of folks wanting to come and work for you,” Cook said. “It’s moving in a good direction. … Landon’s been doing a great job.”
Gouge said he expects his team to respond to an average of 10 calls per day.
“As EMS, we answer calls for medical emergencies like cardiac and other life-threatening issues, car accidents, you know, any type of emergency situation like that. But we also will provide basic life support transports and other medical services that are needed,” he said. “We typically will respond to around 3,000 calls a year from 911 Communications in Bakersville.”
Gouge said that he plans to organize the new service based on residents’ needs.
“We want to be customer-oriented, driven by their needs — we will work to provide what is best for the patient,” he said. “These are our neighbors, our families, our citizens. We want them to feel comfortable with our services and be able to talk to us if they aren’t happy with something we have done or let us know if we did a good job. We want to put our citizens first in everything we do.”
Gouge asked that anyone with questions about the new Mitchell EMS to reach out by email to EMS.Director@mitchellcountync.gov or visit the new website at mitchellcountync.gov/departments/ems.