Complete with plush recliners, a fully stocked refrigerator, and color television, the brand-new EMS Appreciation Lounge made its debut, appropriately enough, during National Emergency Medical Services week festivities at Freeman Health System.

Serving as the first critical link in a chain of caregivers, the lounge caters specifically to paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and air ambulance nurses and crews who transport patients to waiting Emergency Department surgeons.

“The ER is a very busy place, a very loud place, and [EMS workers] need somewhere for themselves where they can unwind,” said Freeman Trauma Medical Director Dr. Brock Carney. “Here, they can come in, unwind, get a snack, sit down, relax, do their paperwork, and regroup before they go back out into the field to bring us another trauma patient.”

Located just off the Freeman West ED entrance, the lounge also offers a worktable for EMS crews to catch up on their paperwork as well as a much-appreciated coffee maker.

“It’s always good to sit down and use the countertop to complete your work and maybe grab a snack,” said Mike Ross, Director of Freeman’s Ambulance Service. “EMS works 24 hours a day, and maybe they started at 4 or 5 am and it’s now noon and they haven’t even had breakfast, so this is just a great way for us to give back to those who are helping us in the field and to show some camaraderie.”

Prior to the lounge’s opening, EMS crews at Freeman grabbed quiet moments inside the cab of their vehicles, “which can get a little old when you’ve been in there hour after hour,” Ross said.

On Thursday and Friday, Freeman officials hosted a cookout for all visiting EMS crews, and t-shirts were distributed. On Wednesday, sack lunches and t-shirts were distributed to crews based in Kansas and Oklahoma to show Freeman’s appreciation for everything they do.

Dominating one of the lounge’s walls hangs a sign thanking all EMS providers who transport critical patients to Freeman: Air Evac Lifeteam; Barton County Ambulance; Carthage Ambulance Service; Cherokee County Ambulance; Crawford County EMS; EagleMed; Freeman Ambulance Service; Grove EMS; Integris Baptist EMS; Labette Health EMS, MedFlight; Metro Emergency Transport System; Newton County Ambulance; and Vernon County Ambulance.

“They work so hard and we want to show our appreciation for them, they put their lives on the line every day, they bring us patients in a safe way, so this is our way of saying thank you,” Dr. Carney said. “They are in the field, and that’s the most dangerous place to be, so they should not be forgotten. They need to be recognized and appreciated by not only us but everyone in the community.”