Ambulance service opens new headquarters at MidAmerica; Enhanced-911 service set to begin for Mayes County.

Released May 13, 2003

PRYOR CREEK, OKLA. - - An ambulance service has started to serve Mayes County residents from its new headquarters in Pryor Creek at MidAmerica Industrial Park, announced Sanders Mitchell, Administrator for MidAmerica, Oklahoma’s largest industrial park.

The Mayes Emergency Service Trust Authority, or MESTA, officially began operations from the new facility on April 14.

Previously the Authority was located in a county-owned building behind the Integris Mayes County Medical Center where it had operated for well over a decade.

According to Mitchell, the new MESTA building was funded in March of 2002 by the MidAmerica Board of Trustees at a cost of nearly $400,000 and leased to the Authority for a 20-year term. MidAmerica also acted as the general contractor for the project with the understanding that MESTA would take over all costs of operation upon occupancy. Construction of the facility began in August 2002 from a design by Huber Architects in Tulsa.

"This new facility means a lot to the citizens of Mayes County," said Jim Montgomery, Chairman of the Board for the Mayes County Commissioners. "It provides offices to adequately monitor a new 911 system, dispatch services for our ambulance service, and a headquarters for MESTA operations. MESTA was pretty cramped in the old space. We appreciate the MidAmerica Board for their efforts to deliver a facility that was greatly needed. We also believe that the new building will enhance the park’s ability to attract new industries by having emergency services nearby," Montgomery said.

The 7,020 square-foot building is located on-site at MidAmerica directly south of the park’s administrative offices. The building contains a lobby with a receptionist station, an accounting office for billing and collections, a dispatch office with two dispatch stations, and a conference room that will also serve as the MESTA boardroom and a classroom for additional staff training. Other features include general offices, a kitchen, a records storage room, and two bedrooms for emergency medical service (EMS) technicians to rest during their 24-hour shifts. At the back of the building, four overhead doors grant direct access to each of the Authority’s ambulance bays.

The facility also houses a new Enhanced 911, or E-911, system for Mayes County. The system, which was not available to Mayes County until the construction of the new MESTA facility, will enable dispatchers to handle all emergency calls for the county’s police, ambulance, sheriff and 10 area "first responder" fire departments. The "Enhanced" designation describes the system’s ability to display the address of the caller to dispatch personnel if the caller is unable to communicate the location of their emergency. Addresses for the Southwestern Bell designed system were supplied by Bell technicians that canvassed the county to match phone numbers to physical addresses. The E-911 system will be fully functional by mid-summer.

"Our new headquarters is a major achievement for MESTA," said Randy Elliott, a local attorney and MESTA Chairman of the Board.

"We have dreamed of having a facility like this for years. Our gratitude goes out to the MidAmerica Board and especially Sanders Mitchell for making this state-of-the-art building a reality," Elliott said. "Finally, we have a physical plant to properly allow MESTA to serve the needs of the county for many years to come."

"Plus, our new geographic location for MESTA at MidAmerica couldn’t be better. It is extremely well located to handle our call volume. We also couldn’t have accommodated the increased responsibility of the new E-911 system at our old location. Our new building simply will enable us to do our job better. It has an up-to-date layout that gives us the opportunity to do daily operations, training, and even board meetings all under one roof," Elliott said.

The new MESTA facility is staffed by a 50-person team that includes 40 full and part-time EMS-certified paramedics.

Elliott also announced that Rick Langkamp has joined MESTA as the new Director, replacing Kenny Perry, who resigned to pursue other business opportunities out-of-state.

Prior to joining MESTA, Langkamp was a 20-year veteran of the Hobbs, New Mexico Fire and EMS Department. During his last 15 years at Hobbs, he was a part of the department’s management team and achieved the rank of Training Officer Lieutenant. He has attended classes on strategic management, financial planning, and disaster response at the National Fire Academy and the Emergency Preparedness Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Due to this academic background, he also served the state of New Mexico as a National Training Instructor for emergency services.

"The new MESTA building is a great asset for Mayes County and for MidAmerica. We are proud to have been a partner in creating a new facility to serve our community by providing expedient access to healthcare 365 days a year," said Sanders Mitchell.

"The funding of this project by the MidAmerica Board of Trustees represents just one more example of our strategy to create capital improvements that benefit both MidAmerica and our community at large," he said.

"We are glad to welcome MESTA as our newest neighbor here at MidAmerica," Mitchell said.

MidAmerica Industrial Park is a 9,000-acre manufacturing, processing and distribution center. Founded in 1960, the park has a 365-acre regional business airport with a 5,000-foot runway, and owns the wastewater and water treatment plants. The nation’s largest rural industrial park, MidAmerica is owned and operated as a self-sustaining public trust established to enhance economic development efforts in Northeast Oklahoma and does not rely upon the support of state or federal tax dollars. Firms located within the park currently include divisions of seven "Fortune 500," seven "Global 500," and 15 publicly-traded companies. Collectively, park industries now employ over 4,000 employees.

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