2021/05/17 - Mayor's Column: EMS Week
“An Open Door to O’Fallon”
A Weekly Note from Mayor Herb Roach
O’Fallon is blessed with an excellent Public Safety Department. O’Fallon’s Public Safety Team is comprised of many well-trained and dedicated employees falling under Police, Fire Rescue, Metro East Communications (MECOMM) and Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
In 1974, President Gerald Ford authorized EMS week to acknowledge the important role that our EMS staff play in America. But I doubt that President Ford would have been able to guess the import of a role that EMS personnel would play in the historic COVID-19 Pandemic.
During 2020, our EMS Staff responded to over 4,374 calls. With over 3,000 cases of COVID reported in our area, these men and women knew during the past year that every time they went on a call, they could be faced with dealing with a COVID-related case and that exposure could not only impact them, but it could impact their families as well. This did not stop them from providing the first-class emergency medical services that our citizens needed.
You will never really appreciate the services, compassion and dedication rendered by these men and women until you really need them. But you can rest assured that they will be there if/when you do need them.
I just cannot say thank you or express my gratitude enough to our EMS staff for what they have done this past year. But I am so glad to know that they are there for us in our time of need.
The City Council and I will honor our EMS staff at the City Council meeting on May 17th declaring it EMS WEEK here in O’Fallon in their honor.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open!