Monday was the first day on the job for Matt Lindewirth, the new chief of the Cole County Ambulance Service - and though it's early, he's impressed with what he sees.
"The people are energetic and welcoming and that's exciting because people is what makes the system great," he said. "So as long as we can maintain that, it's a great opportunity for them, for me and the citizens of Cole County."
Lindewirth was hired as deputy chief in early June. By the end of the month, the Cole County Commission had offered and he accepted the position of chief following the resignation of Director Jerry Johnston.
Johnston's resignation came after some longtime staff members were dismissed and some resigned in April. Those who departed said they questioned Johnston's leadership. However, the commission decided to stay with Johnston as director.
This occurred at a time when the service was down as many as seven to eight paramedic positions and was finding it hard to recruit those workers. The service also had moved from 24-hour to 12-hour shifts, something those who left said was a mistake.
Lindewirth is well aware of what has happened over the last few months and said it's not uncommon for an ambulance service to go through something like this.
"It's what you do to address the issues that's important," Lindewirth said. "If you are willing to re-adjust or say, 'This didn't work, and we need to adjust the course,' then that's what really defines a service. It's when you get stuck in a pattern or a process, that's where you have a system start to slide back and not regain its feet."
Lindewirth is originally from the St. Louis area but has been serving as EMS chief in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Prior to going to South Carolina, he worked 18 years in the St. Charles County and Meramec ambulance districts in Missouri, as well as Abbott EMS, which provides ambulance service in Missouri and Illinois.
Lindewirth said he doesn't want to rush into a decision that could negatively affect the service of Cole County ambulances.
"I have been studying things from afar for about a month, and that was probably helpful," he said. "I didn't have the day-to-day things to distract me. There's challenges, for sure, but there is also some great opportunities for this service."
Lindewirth admitted he was surprised to be offered the chief's position before he had even started the role of deputy chief.
"I was very content to be deputy chief," he said. "I came here from South Carolina from a system that had many, if not more, issues than we are facing here. I had thought being deputy chief would be a good breather for me and my family, but I got the phone call from the commission that things had started to change. It was kind of a whirlwind and not something I expected."
Lindewirth said the service already has begun advertising for the deputy chief position, and that search will include candidates inside and outside the service.
Lindewirth also said he will continue to work to hire full-time paramedics. Three have been hired over the last few weeks. There have been 13 full-time paramedics with the budget allowing for up to 21. The service has a full-time staff of 54 and part-time staff of 40.
"Part-time is a double-edged sword," Lindewirth said. "We want to train them to the standard we expect a full-time person would have. We want them all, full-time and part-time, to be at a level that the public doesn't notice a change in patient care. If part-timers don't work routinely enough, then you have skill degradation and you're spending a lot of money and not getting a return on your investment. Part-timers can be excellent assets, but if they aren't picking up extra shifts they can draw down a system.
"Full-time is what we need, and full-time is what we're going to try and go after."