Henry County EMS receives $200,000 SIREN Act grant

MT. PLEASANT - The Henry County Health Center's emergency medical services department will receive close to $200,000 from the SIREN Act, a federal program for rural EMS training and equipment.

HCHC EMS is one of 27 agencies across the country to receive the $198,913 grant, which will be used for a training and recruitment program that aims to 'capture the strengths of grant participants, encourage professional growth and address current challenges,” a news release from the hospital explained.

The grant will allow the agency to purchase a life-support simulator system and additional personal protective equipment for staff, provide scholarships to those in the community interested in obtaining EMS certifications at local community colleges, and enhance the continuing education and administrative assistance for volunteer first responders.

With the program, the hospital hopes to see improvement in EMS recruitment and retention, access to training programs, and 'a strengthened network of responders and partners better capable of addressing psychosocial and medical needs of local communities.”

'This grant is helpful in modernizing our entire county EMS system and crucial to the recruitment and retention of both existing and new EMS providers in our system,” Jacob Dodds, HCHC EMS director, said in the statement.

'I am very proud that our proposed plan was outstanding enough that we were selected as one of the only 27 agencies nationwide to be awarded this grant.”