Camp County EMS is the sole provider of ambulance service to Camp County, Texas and approximately 90% of Upshur County, Texas. This includes the cities of Pittsburg and Gilmer. We operate 8 Mobile Intensive Care Unit ambulances and provide emergency and non-emergency transport to the citizens of Camp County and Upshur County. Camp County EMS is also the medical transport provider for Longview Regional Medical Center, providing transfer services to local facilities as well as long distance transports to Dallas, Shreveport, Houston and many other locations. In addition, Camp County EMS is contracted with numerous hospice agencies and nursing facilities in the northeast Texas area.

Camp County EMS was founded in 1979 when a group of concerned citizens came together to form the service after a series of private services ceased operations leaving the community on the brink of having no emergency medical transport services. The citizens had a town meeting and started laying the groundwork for the service and exploring funding ideas. Fund raisers were held such as cake auctions, and eventually a membership program started. Eventually, enough money was raised to order one ambulance. The ambulance committee searched and asked for volunteers. Several citizens came forward and began the training required to work on the ambulance.

The ambulance committee and the many volunteers from the community had done an excellent job of forming the new ambulance service. The service was chartered as a nonprofit organization and the service was formed with a Board of Directors to govern the operation. The original board members were D.H. Abernathy, Willie Coldsnow, Don Reynolds, Larry McCasland, and David Abernathy.

Camp County EMS began operation in June of 1979 as a one ambulance Basic Life Support service with an all volunteer staff. Through the years the service has grown to a very successful operation with eight Mobile Intensive Care Unit ambulances and an all paid staff. No tax dollars have ever been used for Camp County EMS. The service has always been self supported and now has approximately $2 million in total assets with no long-term debt.

Camp County EMS has continued to thrive while other ambulance services have ceased operations or been forced to sell. We attribute our success to two things: unmatched community support and the dedication of the men and women who wear our uniform. The continuity of the two will ensure the long term success of this company.

Our Ambulances

Each ambulance is staffed with at least one Paramedic and one EMT. Our units are equipped with state of the art medical equipment such as the LifePak 15 cardiac monitor/defibrillator. These monitors can be used for monitoring the cardiac patient’s heart rhythm, shocking the heart, measuring the oxygen saturation of the blood, measuring the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled, taking automatic blood pressures and acquiring diagnostic 12-lead ECGs. Each unit is also equipped with life saving medications, emergency airway and oxygen equipment, trauma supplies and many other cutting edge medical modalities. We have also purchased 5 Lucas II CPR devices.  These devices have increased the survival rates of cardiac arrest victims in our service area dramatically.  Additionally we carry the McGrath video laryngoscopes and LSP 4000 portable ventilators.

More Details

  • Camp County EMS is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to quality pre-hospital healthcare.
  • Mobile Intensive Care Unit service is provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to the citizens of Camp and Upshur Counties.
  • Organized in 1979, Camp County EMS has continued to grow and advance in all areas of ambulance service operations.
  • Camp County EMS operates 8 modern ambulances. Each is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and staffed with caring and able Paramedics and EMTS.
  • Camp County EMS is dispatched by UT Health East Texas EMS in Tyler.
  • All call takers and dispatchers are either EMTs or Paramedics and are certified as Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMDs).