Fayette County EMS Director Josh Vandever issued the following press release: “As we approach the conclusion of another impactful year, Fayette County Emergency Medical Services (FCEMS) is pleased to present our Year-End Report, summarizing the key achievements, challenges, and advancements experienced throughout the past 12 months. This report provides a valuable insight into the dynamic and vital role our FCEMS team plays in ensuring the health and safety of our county.
1. Response Data
• FCEMS responded to just over 4,215 calls for service year to date in 2025, which is up by about 150 calls from this time last year. We are still dealing with the impacts of not having a local hospital and from the increased time on task and mileage impacts to our team.
• FCEMS also responded to state-wide disasters as assets of the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force. In partnership with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, Fayette County EMS sent assets to 4 disasters, including supporting the State and Local efforts in responding to and recovering from the catastrophic flooding on July 4th in and around Kerrville. Our ambulance crews served as ambulance strike teams supporting the initial response and in support of the Urban Search and Rescue Teams as they worked to recover remains. I served in my initial response as a Medical Incident Support Team Member and later as the Operations Section Chief from the time the position was created until I demobilized 14 days into the incident. I am immeasurably proud of the work done by our crews and that of our partner agencies in supporting the devastated communities to which we responded.
• We also responded to severe weather threats and a couple of wildfire responses, again providing medical support for fellow first responders and for the communities in which they are operating.
These responses not only allowed us to help our fellow Texans but also provided invaluable education and experience to our team on how to better prepare for disasters locally. They also help to generate revenue for the county using equipment otherwise sitting in reserve.
2. Training and Personal Development
• FCEMS has continued to build on our internal education program.
• We are excited to share that Madison Whitney, Kaitlyn Witt, Maddi Tribon, and Nathan Crowley have all been promoted to the rank of paramedic after completing rigorous paramedic programs.
• We have strived to increase our standards internally and thus have created a requirement for our captains to obtain and maintain an advanced accredited critical care certification. We're proud to share that Captains Conner Zeller and Neil Watkins have obtained their Critical Care Paramedic – Certified certifications and that Captain Jarrett Bise is close to completing his. This training will be critical in advancing the level of clinical expertise that our shift supervisors bring to the table and better prepare add units of blood to our clinical practice that we intend to accomplish in the next year.
3. Community Outreach, Collaboration and Partnerships
• We have continued to be blessed by having the opportunities to participate in local non-profit organizations and have had the honor to speak to Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs and school groups over the last year and have enjoyed getting to know the residents of our community.
• Our partnership with Colorado Valley Communications has helped financially support many of our employees upon their graduation from school and we appreciate the continued investment that they are making in our employees.
I'm incredibly proud of the work that our team at the county has done interacting with the team at Progressive Health Group, and I am anxiously awaiting the reopening of our local hospital. I look forward to the positive fiscal impacts that the opening of the hospital has on our department, as well as for the overall benefit to the well-being of our community that its success will provide.
4. Statewide Advocacy
• The last legislative session was an extremely busy one and rural emergency medical services providers like Fayette County EMS were no exception to that. We spent a good amount of time advocating for financial support for pre-hospital whole blood programs in Texas and were successful in securing $10 million of funding statewide to support the growth of these efforts.
• HB3000 will go on to be the single most impactful bill as it relates to our county. The ability for our county to obtain $350,000 to offset the cost of an ambulance will be massive in offsetting our expenditures. I'm very proud of all of my colleagues and of the members of our team locally who took time out of their busy schedules to help advocate on our county's behalf.
Our entire department would like to take this opportunity to thank the taxpayers of Fayette County for their support of our mission and that of our team.
Our EMS crews have a very difficult career that demands countless hours away from their families, including missed holidays, birthdays and special events.
We all chose this profession and the appreciation that we see day in and day out from our community reinforces the difficult decisions we must make to leave our families much more bearable.
Our county and our department continue to face challenges as we move into the future.
It is our commitment to the citizens of the county that we will always do our best with the resources entrusted to us to provide the most cost-effective, clinically advanced, and patient-centered EMS system in rural Texas.
