There have been a lot of questions and concerns recently centering on the Cedar Bluff Town Council’s decision for their Fire Department to no longer respond to Medical Calls due to liability concerns.

Both the Council and Cedar Bluff Mayor Tammy Crane want to assure the residents of the town that this decision will in NO way affect the First Responder services they have always received in the past.

On Wednesday WEIS Radio News sat down with Danny Smith who serves on the Board for Cherokee EMS and he explained in depth a little more about the details of the situation.

Smith went onto say that as he understands, not all fire departments within the county respond to Medical Calls in the first place due to the fact that they have accepted the liability issue of not having the proper training or equipment.

The bottom line for residents in the town of Cedar Bluff is this –

Smith said that presently there is an EMS Station set up in Cedar Bluff which has been there since the first of the year – those Paramedics are on duty for 12 hours a day and provide services to everyone on that side of the lake.

Cherokee EMS does train and assist all fire departments throughout the county in the use of CPR and AED devices which are found equipped on at one of every fire truck within the county.

Smith went onto say that there are a lot of medical calls that as a first responder there is simply not a lot you can do and he feels like that had a lot to do with the decision being made.

Cherokee EMS, in addition to the Town Council in Cedar Bluff assures everyone that when the services of First Responders are needed, they will be there.