Reasons To Live In Round Rock

By Author: Curtis Reddehase
Total Articles: 15
Comment this article

There are many reasons to live in Williamson County, one of my good friends lives in Round Rock and loves it. I have asked her to give me some of her favorite reasons and was surprised that safety was one of her answers. She has some very good friends on the Police Department and in the EMS system. She explained that not only did she feel it was a safe city but also explained that if she ever had an emergency, she knew she would be well taken care of. With that, I looked into the EMS system to get some sort of explanation to her statements.

Williamson County EMS serves all people in the 1,124 square miles of the County which also includes individuals who reside in the city of Round Rock and Cedar Park who may still live in nearby Travis County. The department currently has 12 stations that are staffed and maintained 24 hours/7 days a week.

EMS has 101 full-time personnel. All paramedics are certified or licensed by the Department of State Health Services. One of their primary focuses, other than the public's well being, is education. They know the importance of continuing education. They strive ...
... for the best education possible because it is of importance to the general public. Apparently, they offer 60-70 hours of continuing education per year to each and every paramedic. This organization is lead by Dr. Stephen Benold, who serves as the medical director and John Sneed who is the Director. This department over the last 3 years has grown by the thousands and handles over 24,000 calls per year. Call Volume has increased 30% to 35% a year steadily which exemplifies the growth in this county.

One of the many things that put Williamson County EMS into the above and beyond category is their public education programs. Not only are they skilled, educated and talented, they are creative. Several years ago, they came up with the WHALE program which stands for We have a little emergency. It starts with two stickers that alert emergency responders that a small child in a car seat may be found inside in the event of a collision or some other accident. One sticker is placed on the exterior of the vehicle and another sticker is inside on the back of the child seat. It provides the child's name, birthday, medical history and an emergency phone number and contact information. This has been a very powerful program and has won this agency many awards and gratitude.

Second program: I found was a safety awareness program. The Paramedics have a "go-to-guy" named Andy, the ambulance. He is a robotic talking companion, who looks like an ambulance and who provides answers to small children when they have questions regarding 911 issues, how to dial for help and when to make the call. It allows the children to relax and not be so fearful of the emergency process. Great idea right!!

It is this type of commitment that shows why my friend feels she is safe in her community. When you have a group of highly-trained individuals who are so prepared for whatever might happen, it helps people to sleep at night. Hurrah for the Williamson County EMS!! Keep up the great work. Oh... and she also likes the Dell Diamond Baseball arena....but we could go on and on.