Sidney Regional Medical Center (SRMC) is proud to announce our new Emergency Medical Services (EMS) department for Sidney and the surrounding areas. This service will aid our communities immensely as we provide vital 911 emergency ambulance services, as well as facilitate transfers to and from SRMC and tertiary hospitals. The city, county, and hospital have collectively agreed to offer this service in partnership. This will be a collaborative effort of shared expenses and revenue to help our communities afford an outstanding ambulance service with Advanced Life Support.
We would like to recognize Robin Stuart, CEO of Morrill County Community Hospital (MCCH), and their Board of Directors for giving us time to make a proper transition. They did a remarkable job serving our communities in need and even extended their EMS contract two months to give us enough time to plan for everything required to provide a high-quality ambulance service. We deeply appreciate all the services MCCH provided our communities during that year of operation. Their willingness to take over this service for over a year was incredibly generous as it allowed our communities to continue to receive an essential emergency service and gave us enough time at SRMC to plan and consider next steps.
As SRMC prepared to transition the EMS department, we hired Shannon Odiet as the EMS director. He’s been working as a paramedic in Emergency Medical Services for 33 years! When he was first introduced to SRMC’s department directors, Shannon was surprised by the number of people in the room who were excited to welcome and support the ambulance service. He is thrilled to join our mission in providing extraordinary care always and to start proving his team’s capabilities. Shannon’s exceptional EMS team is bringing several years of experience, top-notch technology, and an expanse of knowledge. He declared, “I’m lucky enough to be their leader. The team is the one who makes this possible.”
Shannon’s vision for the SRMC Emergency Medical Services is stability. He wants stability for our organization, his team, and our surrounding communities because he believes that our town deserves a high-quality ambulance service. When asked why he accepted the EMS director position, he said, “I realized I wanted to be a part of this service. I saw my community in need, and I knew I needed to help.” According to Shannon, you can’t have a healthcare system without a quality EMS system, as they are the ones bringing patients to hospitals.
Shannon also has a great vision for his team that began with uniforms. “Uniforms represent a unified team and a sense of pride for what they do and who they work for,” he stated. His request for uniforms was met with enthusiasm, and marketing quickly went to work to design special uniforms to represent the new SRMC EMS department. Not only that, but we created hats, jackets, and a creative wrap for the ambulances to demonstrate that we are proud and excited to have them on our team. Shannon echoed our VP of Patient Care Services, Julie Slagle, by saying, “If our names are on the ambulance, then it’ll be the best service out there. This will exceed everyone’s expectations of what a high-quality ambulance service looks like.”
