Jimmy Hicklin, the Administrator of EMS, Secretary Duane Backen, Tama Mayor and EMS Assistant Director Brian Hanus in front of the newly wrapped Tama ambulances. PHOTO BY MICHAEL D. DAVIS

TAMA – Some nice changes have come to the city of Tama in the last couple of months, but chances are, if you haven’t ridden in an ambulance, you wouldn’t have noticed. These slew of improvements to the Tama Emergency Medical Services Department were put into action by their new leader, Jimmy Hicklin.

Jimmy worked in the EMS field for two decades before coming to Tama. From working in little communities like ours to servicing major metropolitans, Hicklin has traveled all over helping people in some of their worst moments. When talking about his work in this field, Jimmy stated, “It has given me the opportunity to work in Major Cities, Smaller Cities, Rural communities, and remote areas and learn from each place I’ve been.”

Hicklin started his position as the administrator of EMS in February of this year. The most noticeable change since Jimmy’s takeover has been a change in transportation. A brand spanking new 2023 Ford E450 Osage Ambulance can be seen speeding through town, saving lives.

Among the several differences between the new ambulance and the old one is the improvement in the back of the truck. Not only does the back of the new ambulance provide much more space to work in, but it also has several more safety features to keep everyone protected and able to supply care.

An ambulance like this tends to cost $200,000 plus, but this steep bill is already nearly halfway paid as approximately $110,000 has been raised. This has been accomplished with the generous donations from local businesses and regional companies. Still fighting the uphill battle, Jimmy wants to try and cover the cost of the new ambulance through donations by the spring of next year. Only the keen citizen will be able to pick out the new ambulance from the older model however, as Jimmy just got the pair covered in a new wrap, so that Tama’s ambulances bear the identical designs.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL D. DAVIS

Although Jimmy and the Tama EMS team may have a new shiny ambulance to fawn over, that doesn’t mean they have gotten all the toys they want. In this year’s letter to Santa, Jimmy is asking the big man for another Lifepak 15 heart monitoring system, a Lucas CPR device, and 2

transport ventilators. These smaller items that Hicklin wishes to acquire may have been put on the back burner for the ambulance, but that doesn’t make them less important. Every wrench in the paramedic’s toolbox is vital.

Another change that Jimmy helped carry out was with personnel. In just a small amount of time, the number of EMS faculty has grown dramatically. “In the past year, Tama EMS has gone from one full time provider to now three full time providers and one part-time provider along with 20 plus activity volunteers. We broadened the protocols for the Advance EMT’s so that we can provide more care to our patients and community than before,” he said.

With more people comes more opportunities, one such opportunity that has come along is the transport program. Never before done by the Tama Ambulance Service, this program is to help take patients from one hospital to another. Jimmy didn’t make the decision to start this program by himself, instead leaving it up to a vote of the entire Tama EMS team. “I would like to think WE all started the program together,” Hicklin said.

The new program doesn’t just help the hospitals to transfer their patients in a timely manner, but it also generates a little more revenue. This takes a bit of weight off the city’s shoulders in paying the ambulance services costs. But it is the patients themselves that benefit from this program the most, getting Tama’s skilled professionals to watch over them in their time of need.

“The biggest thing that goes into a transport as a Care Provider is Compassion. Talking with the person you are transporting is a big part of patient care, and it helps,” Hicklin said.

Tama’s Emergency Medical Services Department may have seen some great changes in the past couple of months, but they are far from done. Jimmy wants to see nothing but growth for the department, more volunteers, newer equipment. Tama EMS is definitely going up in the world.