Scottsbluff, Neb., – Beginning May 15, Regional West Health Services in Scottsbluff, will partner with the Ogallala Volunteer Fire Department to start a process of providing paramedics in Ogallala. The one-year service contract unanimously approved by the Ogallala City Council on April 20 resolves the city’s lengthy search for guaranteed daytime staffing of the local ambulance service. 

Through the agreement, Regional West paramedics will provide patient care during daytime hours, and fire department volunteers will cover evening and night hours as usual.

“Ogallala has a very good ground ambulance service and a strong volunteer organization and we are pleased to partner with them to enhance and ensure the staffing shifts are covered with qualified and trained EMS personnel that will allow them to provide services to the community,” said Randy Meininger, manager of ground ambulance services at Regional West. “Stepping in to help the community in this situation fits perfectly with our mission as the region’s Level II Trauma Center.”

Regional West has provided personnel, training, and other resources for regional emergency and trauma care since 1995, when the hospital contracted with Med Trans to offer Air Link air ambulance service and helped to establish the regional trauma network. In 2002, Regional West established Emergency Response Care in Sidney to fill a need for local ground ambulance service. In 2014, Regional West assumed management of the Garden County ambulance service.

“Our main purpose is to enhance what the city currently provides,” said Meininger. “The Ogallala Volunteer Fire Department will still run the ambulance service, and we will support their program with trained paramedics.”

Regional West Health Services in Scottsbluff, Neb., is the parent company of Regional West Medical Center, a 182-bed regional referral center and one of three Level II Trauma Centers in the state. The trauma program includes Air Link air ambulance service, which is fully accredited by The Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems. As the region’s only tertiary referral medical center, Regional West offers care that spans more than 32 medical specialties provided by over 28 physician clinics. With nearly 300 providers, and over 2,000 employees, Regional West provides comprehensive and innovative health care services for the people of western Nebraska and the neighboring states of Colorado, South Dakota, and Wyoming.