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Welcome to Delaware County Emergency Medical Services (DCEMS).

Delaware County is directly adjacent to the north of Franklin County and the City of Columbus, Ohio. Our County is a mixture of Columbus area suburbs in the south and rich, rural farmland in the north. We would like to take the opportunity to provide a short synopsis of our department.

Ambulances racing to the scene of an accident, or responding to a medical emergency, lights flashing and sirens blaring, often arriving before police and fire departments...This is how most people know Delaware County EMS.

As the primary emergency medical provider for the more than 160,000 residents of Delaware County, DCEMS is a professional "emergency-only" agency operated by the Delaware County Board of Commissioners. We are the second largest provider of Emergency Medical Services in Central Ohio.

We have not always had the leading-edge emergency medical services that we have today, but are proud of our growth and heritage, and feel strongly tied to the community as YOUR Emergency Medical Service. If you'd like, please take a moment to read more about our department's rich history included here in our website.

The Command Staff consists of the Chief, who is the Department’s Director and Executive Officer, the Assistant Chief of Operations, and a staff of six Captains, all of whom oversee the daily operations. Click on Admin & Command to learn more about what each member of the Command Staff brings to the leadership of the department.

The Department's Operational Staff is structured into three 24-hour shifts. Each shift consists of two Captains, who are responsible for all daily operations, and a Lieutenant for each of ten ALS crews, each responsible for the direct operational and clinical oversight of individual emergency scenes. The goal of DCEMS is to provide quality emergency medical patient care to the residents and visitors of our County. DCEMS is an emergency only service, and provides no scheduled transports. In an effort to achieve this goal, we locate our stations in strategic areas of the county to provide service within 4 to 8 minutes of any call for assistance. To find the station closest to your home, check our County Map.

We feel that it is important to understand that Delaware County EMS is supported by a 0.5% sales tax, and has been for more than 35 years! We do not, and never will, subsidize our services by asking for you to vote for additional tax levies based on your property values, nor do we bill you or your insurance company for our services. With an agreement reached between the Board of Commissioners, the City of Delaware, and the Trustees of all 18 of the County's Townships in 1972 when our organization first began, our funding is set in a fashion that allows us to grow along with the County.

The department values it's close working relationship with the local medical community. Our physician medical director, Dr. Khanh Thai, is a board certified emergency medicine physician with Grady Memorial Hospital, located in the City of Delaware.  Dr. Thai is an active participant in the department’s CQI and QA programs, the evaluation of the Patient Care Guidelines and treatment modalities utilized by the department.  Scott Kravitz is an Emergency Department Physician Assistant with Grady Memorial Hospital, and serves as the EMS Liaison to the Medical Director.  Our medical director and department members sit on many different Boards and Advisory Committees within the three primary healthcare systems in Central Ohio.

As a professional department, we firmly believe in retaining educated employees, and many of our members hold formal degrees. We strongly support any employee who wishes to seek educational advancements both through formal degree programs and in EMS related course work. Additionally, we provide our employees with the latest equipment and technology along with progressive standing orders and a competitive salary and benefit package.

Within this website’s different pages you will find additional information about the department’s various operations. If you are interested in becoming a part of our organization please see our employment page for information on how to become a valued part of our progressive customer-oriented team. Thank you for taking the time to visit our website!

Delaware County EMS, 10 Court Street, Ground Floor, Delaware, Ohio 43015
740-833-2190 office | 740-833-2189 fax
(c) 2009 Delaware County Emergency Services & Delaware County Board of Commissioners - Questions, Comments, Concerns, contact us

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