JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO, Texas –
A Blanket Intergovernmental Support Agreement between Joint Base San Antonio and the Alamo Area Council of Governments, and a resulting task order with the City of Schertz, Texas, is helping people at JBSA-Randolph get the medical care they need faster.
Under the Blanket IGSA between AACOG and JBSA, the City of Schertz will extend emergency ambulance response, ambulatory patient transportation, and emergency medical flight line care, with capability to address decompression sickness and injuries related to in-flight emergencies, on JBSA-Randolph for the next five years.
The extended EMS services will help protect military members, their families, federal employees, veterans, and military retirees, and will provide more comprehensive safety coverage for the base than previously available.
While the primary focus of the IGSA is the safety of flight operations and protection of human life on the installation, the Air Force will also reap the benefit of reduced costs and more availability of specialized equipment for emergency responses.
Maj. Alexis Edwards, 502nd Contracting Squadron director of operations, said the agreement is projected to help taxpayers realize a savings of 8.13% over the five years and will reduce the workload for JBSA EMS crews.
“Schertz has a proven EMS service that has six ambulances in the area adjacent to JBSA-Randolph which can be used for simultaneous calls on base,” she said. “Their fleet also contains an AMBUS capable of transporting up to 20 patients in the event of a mass casualty incident on base.”
Edwards said the City of Schertz EMS will also provide off-base ambulance transport for non-emergencies from the medical clinic on the installation, leaving the on-base military ambulance available for emergency calls.
The neighboring city government is looking forward to furthering their support to San Antonio’s military community.
“The City of Schertz has a long-standing relationship with JBSA-Randolph, and we are proud to be able to offer the services of our world-class Emergency Medical Services department to support our nation’s military,” said Ralph Gutierrez, Schertz mayor.
Diane Rath, AACOG executive director and the facilitator of the IGSA, said this is just another instance where the local community can provide services to JBSA, saving the Federal government money and time.
“This is another step in using our historic Blanket IGSA for the Alamo Region to support the missions of JBSA. As we add services to this agreement, we are strengthening the ties between our community and the women and men, and their families, who serve our Nation so selflessly,” she said. “Our goal is to enable our local government members to provide more and more base operating support services for JBSA, freeing the military to focus efforts and resources on their mission, the defense of our Nation.”