By Dianne Stallings
The Ruidoso News
RUIDOSO, N.M. — Hours of dedication and training lie behind the title of Lincoln County Emergency Medical Services.
While the ambulance service stationed at the Lincoln County Medical Center in Ruidoso employs a full-time staff of 16 emergency medical technicians or paramedics with six ambulances, the EMS outposts in Carrizozo, Capitan, Hondo and Corona depend on from 20 to 25 people who juggle two lives, their day jobs and the emergency medical responses that sometimes trigger their pagers at 3 a.m. Those volunteers, who are paid only for time spent on their runs, say they hope county voters are willing in this year’s general election to continue for the next eight years the 3 mill special property tax levy that helps support the operations of the county hospital in Ruidoso, the emergency medical services and the county’s four rural health care clinics.
Kevin Kennedy, who’s been with the Lincoln County EMS based in Capitan 10 years as a paid volunteer, said supporting the renewal of a special property tax levy is “a no brainer.”
Read full story: Volunteers endorse Lincoln County medical care tax