County purchases home to serve as a formal office, base for Dubois ambulances
By Joshua Scheer, reporter, county10.com
(Dubois, Wyo.) – Fremont County’s Emergency Medical Service has purchased a new facility for its staff in Dubois. The building, an existing manufactured home, will serve as a new training and residential facility for EMS staff.
Ambulance Director Lauri Wempen said in an interview Monday that the building is located on C Street east of the existing station where the ambulances are kept.
The facility had been talked about at Fremont County Commission meetings throughout the last couple months, and during an interview on Monday, Chairman Doug Thompson said the county closed on the building about two weeks ago. Wempen said the cost of the building was $110,000.
Wempen explained the home will provide more of a formal training area versus just using the inside of the ambulance garage. It will also house more of a formal office space for the paperwork side of the EMT job description.
Also when employees from other parts of the county cover for those normally based in Dubois there will be beds for them to use while on call. Previously those individuals spent much of their on-call time sitting in the ambulances.
Wempen said this is the first time the county has had such a complete facility in Dubois. She hopes to be able to have the home set up and ready for full use in the next couple of weeks.
Last Tuesday, the county approved spending $7,100 on furnishings and minor remodeling. During that meeting, Wempen explained she needed to purchase several new chairs, beds, floor mats for chairs, a phone line and and some appliances. She told the commission she is working to recycle anything the county has on-hand that wouldn’t need purchased. A coat closet will be taken out to expand an entry way. Linoleum floors will be installed in exchange for the existing carpet in the area due to high traffic.
“We do accept the maintenance as our responsibility,” Wempen told the commission, noting that the landscaping will be transitioned to a native-style desert form.
Earlier in January, Facilities Maintenance Supervisor JR Oakley said there was a minor issue with a neighbor’s storage unit encroaching inches on to the property. “It’s nothing to concern ourselves with, I don’t believe,” he said.
