1976
Local citizens travel to Camp Wood for a 24-hour Emergency Care Attendant course.
Our history
Community-Built Service
Built by local volunteers and carried forward by generations of neighbors.
Before Edwards County EMS was organized, patient care depended on untrained volunteers with little more than a Chevrolet station wagon housed at the local hospital. A small group believed the county could do better.
Community fundraising brought the county its first dedicated ambulance in 1978—a defining step in the service’s early history.
1977
Seventeen people complete Rocksprings’ first ECA course and organize a local service.
1978
Community fund drives bring Edwards County its first ambulance.
1979
Seven local volunteers complete EMT training; the service elects its first officers.
1983
David Prather completes paramedic training after traveling to Del Rio every weekend.
1986
The local hospital closes, making transports at least 48 miles and taking units out of service for hours.
1997
Edwards County EMS incorporates as a nonprofit; helicopter transport becomes available.
Today
A licensed advanced life support service carries forward the vision of its founding volunteers.
The legacy continues
They believed it was possible.
What began with training, mailed fundraising letters, memorial cards, and neighbor-to-neighbor determination is now an advanced life support service.