Gaston County Emergency Medical Services (GEMS) is the Emergency Medical Service for Gaston County, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. This is the Emergency Service Provided by the County, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They respond to 35,000 calls annually. The service provides advanced life support

Advanced Life Support

Advanced Life Support is a set of life-saving protocols and skills that extend Basic Life Support to further support the circulation and provide an open airway and adequate ventilation .-Components of ALS:These include:...

. GEMS was the first EMS organization within the State of North Carolina to achieve national accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS).
GEMS has 9 paramedic

Paramedic

A paramedic is a healthcare professional that works in emergency medical situations. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical emergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field in ambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as...

 stations & 10 ems post throughout the county. Gaston County Emergency Medical Service headquarters is located in Gastonia

Gastonia

Gastonia may refer to:Places:*Gastonia, North Carolina, United StatesIn biology:*Gastonia , a genus in the ivy or ginseng family*Gastonia , a genus of ankylosaur...

, North Carolina. GEMS primarily transports patients to Gaston Memorial Hospital

Gaston Memorial Hospital

Gaston Memorial Hospital is a public, not for profit hospital located in Gastonia, North Carolina, United States. It serves Gaston & surrounding counties. The hospital was organized in 1946 as a memorial to all local soldiers who died in World War II and the present Court Drive facility opened in...

and other outlying facilities in neighboring counties.

GEMS is also supported by the local rescue squads throughout the county. These include South Point Lifesaving Crew, Stanley Civil Defense Rescue, Dallas Rescue, Ranlo Fire and Rescue, Gaston Lifesaving Crew, Crowders Mountain Rescue, Cherryville Rescue, And the local fire departments that respond to medical calls.

Special teams

• Bicycle Emergency Response Team (B.E.R.T)
• Dive Rescue and Recovery Team
• Honor Guard
• S.T.A.R. Team (Specialized Tactics and Rescue Team)
• Tactical Medic Team
• Structual Collapse and Trench (S.C.A.T)
• Personnel Rehab Unit (P.R.U)

Service problems

GEMS ambulances operate in a very high demand county and, in general, have difficulty responding to calls for service in a timely and effective manner. This sometimes due to poor distribution of resources either because of unit availibility or call volume. Due to the high call volume it is not unusual for the county to run out of ALS staffed ambulances and be forced to fall back on the rescue squads for backup. This frequently causes emergency situations that require paramedic support to not have that kind of support available or that support having an unacceptable response time due to distance. A secondary problem associated with this is high worker stress due to a high stress job coupled with the demands of the county for ambulance services from an inadequate system. This has led to very high worker turnover as well as low morale and a higher than normal level of paramedic burnout.

External links

• Gaston County EMS