Meet Staunton Area Ambulance Service (SAAS)

Staunton Area Ambulance Service (SAAS) is a Chamber of Commerce business. The director of operations, Matthew Tennill, says it is probably the one business you don't want to do business with. His team of 23 workers, provides 2 paramedic ambulances 24/7 and a third truck three to four days a week that works 16 hour shifts. The service has office workers, EMT's and Paramedics. The geographical area they service is much more than just Staunton. They cover the area of Staunton, Worden, New Douglas and Olive Fire protection district, which is Livingston and Williamson. They also have mutual agreements with Hamel, Bond County, Gillespie and Bunker Hill.

Matthew Tennill, Director of SAAS Operations

The ambulances are equipped with cardiac revival equipment, CPR devices, ventilators, power load stretchers and a hydraulic lift for loading a patient. It has been found during a cardiac arrest event, that spending more time treating the patient at the scene has provided better results versus loading them up and transporting to a hospital as quickly as possible. The ambulances are equipped medications and equipment to provide similar care as they would receive in an ER.

Matthew is proud to say that SAAS does not have a lot of turnover within their employees, although they do have staffing shortages. He says, the people that work there are passionate about helping people. Since the education requirements for a paramedic are similar to a registered nurse, it also leads to shortages of new graduates entering the paramedic field. Paramedic's require re-licensing every 4 years and 100 hours of additional training every 4 years. Most of the training is performed in house by employees who have obtained the necessary qualifications to be trainers.

SAAS mainly utilizes Macoupin 911 for emergency calls, even Madison 911 will route their calls through Macoupin 911. Staunton dispatchers are used for transfer of patients from one facility to another. Staunton law enforcement calls are also easily transferred locally using their radio system.

Their work can be in coordination with 1st responders, such as, police and fire departments who are in charge of an incident and extricating the patients. After that, the patient care is managed by the ambulance service. Responses are monitored through a software that can breakdown each call from the time of dispatched, to when in route, until they arrive on the scene. They can compare themselves to National 911 response standards. The patient is allowed to choose the medical facility they wish to be taken to as long as it is within reason. If it is a trauma or pediatric incident the paramedics prefer to transport the patient directly to a trauma or pediatric hospital to eliminate the possibility of a delay in care.

Matthew uses a Critical Incident Stress Management Team to provide care for the responders following a traumatic incident. There are two trained teams, one at Anderson Medical Group and a regional one out of Belleville Memorial Hospital of which Matthew is a member. The care can be group sessions or one on one interactions with a mental health professional.

SAAS enjoys helping out in the community. They had a coat fundraiser for the school in which close to 200 coats were donated. They do community outreach by offering Narcan through the St. Francis Way Foundation. There is no judgement used for providing the drug. If they go on a call that causes the need for Narcan to be administered, there is a kit provided to the individual or the family of the person that includes where they can go for help if they are ready to seek treatment.

Matthew is proud of their equipment and says sometimes they wash their ambulances 3 or 4 times a day. He says, if you see a dirty one going down the road you know it has been a long day. The lettering on the ambulances is being updated to show Staunton Area Ambulance Service, instead of the SAAS decal, another way of showing their pride for Staunton.