The Courier of Montgomery reports that in order to make health care more accessible as the number of emergency calls grow, the Montgomery County Hospital District plans to open new ambulance stations and add new technology.
Throughout Montgomery County the hospital district provides emergency medical services. Over the past two years, the number of service calls has grown at an annual rate of 4%. Chief of EMS, James Campbell, said the growth is making EMS concentrate on increasing resources.
In 2024, the EMS call volume was 92,546 which is an increase from the 2020’s number of 73,155,
As they put together new stations across the county the district believes working with fire departments is key to growth.
On McBeth Way this month, Station 24 will open as part of Fire Station Number 5 in the Woodlands. The building will encompass 14 dorm rooms and four-and-a-half apparatus bays in its 21,565 square feet.
In December, the district opened Station 16 which houses two ambulances. One of them is reserved for peak-hour use. Opening in August, will be Station 46, on FM 2824 south of Lake Conroe.
Campbell said, “We have trucks strategically clustered around the county, which makes our deployment model more efficient.”
The ambulance manufacturing industry has not yet recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic which is presenting a challenge to the district and other fire agencies.
Campbell said it used to take six months to build an ambulance. He said, if you’re at “the end of the line,” now, it’s 18 months. He also said that back in 2023 the district started to plan adding ambulances to their fleet. He said four new ambulances have come in which brings the number of vehicles on the road daily to 41.
