Ambulance Service 50th Anniversary Open House

Tomah Area Ambulance Service was founded on August 07, 1973, after the City of Tomah took over operation of the ambulance service from the Larkin family. The Larkin family had provided ambulance services to the City of Tomah and the surrounding area for over 20 years. Under the direction of the first Ambulance Director William (Bill) Fox, the service became a volunteer, paid-on-call EMT-Basic service. The ambulance service operated in this capacity until 2013 when the service started the process of transitioning into a Paramedic Service. In September of 2014, the ambulance service started providing paramedic, advanced life support services under the direction of Director Jody Allen. In 2015, the first full-time paramedics were hired which began the transition from a volunteer, paid-on-call service to a full-time, career Emergency Medical Services agency. In 2018, under the direction of Director Randal Dunford, Tomah Area Ambulance Service completed the transition to a career EMS agency with all full-time and part-time staff stationed at and responding to calls from the station. In November 2021, Tomah Area Ambulance Service completed the upgrade to Critical Care Transport Paramedic Service, allowing us to provide a higher level of care during interfacility transports.

Today, Tomah Area Ambulance Service serves a population of approximately 19,000 residents and visitors to the City of Tomah and surrounding communities. We provide primary 911 services to an area of approximately 500 square miles in Monroe, Jackson, and Juneau Counties, serving 16 municipalities.  As a Critical Care Transport Paramedic, Advanced Life Support service, we provide advanced cardiac life support, advanced airway management, IV initiation and maintenance, medication administration, and mutual aid/intercept capabilities. The ambulance service also provides interfacility transport services to Tomah Health, Tomah VA Medical Center, and surrounding hospitals. Since our transition to a Paramedic Service in 2014, and to a Critical Care Transport Paramedic service in 2021, we have seen our call volume increase by over 70% from just over 1,800 calls in 2014 to over 3,000 calls in 2021 and 2022

We would like to invite all members of the public to help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary serving the citiezens and visitors to the Tomah Community.  We would also like to show off our new Emergency Services Building.  Please plan to attend our open house and keep an eye out on social media for updates on events planned for the day.