Saving lives all in a day’s work for ambulance service founder
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Billie Morris, founder Ambulance & Chair Service, with Rodney Rohrer the mamger at the facility in Washington on Tuesday, October 3, 2017.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Billie Morris, founder Ambulance & Chair Service, at the facility in Washington on Tuesday, October 3, 2017.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Billie Morris, founder Ambulance & Chair Service, with Marlene Reid who is a dispatcher supervisor at the facility in Washington on Tuesday, October 3, 2017.
Billie Morris sits behind the desk in her office while two rotund office cats lounge contentedly nearby.
The felines are rescue cats that Morris, president of Washington Ambulance & Chair Service, took in a year and a half ago.
“We not only save human lives,” Morris said, glancing fondly at the cats. “We save any lives we can.”
Since Morris started Ambulance & Chair in 1962, when she was 19 years old, her company has, indeed, saved lives.
For 55 years, the company has responded to medical emergencies throughout Washington County 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Morris, the mother of three, said she began the company because she wanted to work from home.
For 19 years, she answered emergency calls at her house. To make sure she didn’t miss a call, Morris connected the phone lines to bells rigged above her bed and outside the house.
“I answered the phones 24 hours a day. I had to arrange to go to the grocery store,” she recalled.
What began as a job, Morris said, became “an obsession.”
“It has become an obsession to do the best we can and to be innovative in care,” said Morris, 74. “When I started, the emergency ambulance services basically were nothing more than a stretcher and a vehicle, and you threw the patient in the back seat and tried to get to the hospital as quickly as possible. It’s evolved to be quite sophisticated and life-saving. The medics and EMTs now actually can save lives, and they do save lives. People walk out of the hospital because of the initial care they were given by medics and EMTs, and that’s our goal: to save as many and make as many sick and injured people feel the best they can and to survive.”
J. Bracken Burns, a former director of emergency medical services and the emergency management agency for Washington County who worked for Morris at Ambulance & Chair in the 1970s, called her a leader in the EMS industry.
“She was, and is, at the cutting edge of innovation in the EMS field. She has always insisted on high standards for her people when it comes to training,” said Burns.
Ambulance & Chair co-sponsored the first Emergency Medical Technicians class in the state, in 1971; trained and employed the first paramedics in the county; developed and implemented the first Automated External Defibrillator program in Pennsylvania, and created the first Quick Response Squad program in the state, which enables local fire departments to provide medical care to patients while Ambulance & Chair personnel are en route to the scene of a medical emergency.
“We have done, and still do, some medical procedures that are not done throughout the country,” said Morris. “Not all services have advanced life support, unfortunately. Not all services utilize cold drugs for cardiac patients, which certainly helps reduce the trauma to a patient’s heart. I’m very proud of what my people do every day.”
Morris credits her employees – currently, there are 78 – with the company’s ability to evolve and provide state-of-the-art care.
“We provide top-quality care. I’m the president of the company, but I’m only one small part of the company. I’m just one spoke in a big wheel,” said Morris. “It’s the EMTs, the paramedics, and the mechanics and the office staff who keep it all going. It’s a big family that I’m very proud of. I’m blessed to have the staff that I do. I just try to make sure, with the help of my billing staff, that we can keep it going.”
Rodney Rohrer, Ambulance & Chair manager who has worked with Morris for more than 30 years, said her leadership has enabled the company to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and procedures.
“She’s a very, very special person. They love her here,” said Rohrer. “She always leads by example and has stayed current with changes, which makes it easy for our employees to provide quality care.”
Morris, a lifelong resident of Washington County, said she was “blessed with good parents” who instilled in her a work ethic.
“I was raised to work hard, and I was raised to do the best that I can,” said Morris. “One of my favorite things my father ever said to me was, ‘Rough seas make good sailors.’ I believe that. And I believe everything negative in one’s life turns out to be positive because it’s an education, and you become a better, stronger person.”
Her priorities, Morris said, have always been her children and grandchildren – a daughter, son and two granddaughters live in Richmond, Va., and another daughter lives in Topanga, Calif. – and the company.
Morris, who has earned the Emergency Medical Services Institute Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the field, said it hasn’t always been easy to keep the business going over the years, a combination of operating costs and changes in health care.
“This time in health care is difficult, to say the least. It is a challenge because I want to keep the staff happy and well-paid because they deserve it. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I’ve been through difficult times before, and we’ll get through it again,” she said. “But I still get excited about what we do here. The evolution of the EMS field continues to be amazing.”
While she has cut down her work hours – she no longer puts in 12- to 15-hour workdays – Morris, trim and smartly dressed in blue jeans, a denim-colored shirt and navy blue sweater-shawl, has no intention to retire.
“I don’t know how to be done,” she chuckled. “I do get tired, but I don’t know how to be done because there’s always more to do tomorrow.”
Editor’s note: As part of the ExtraORdinary People award, Billie Morris will be given $500, underwritten by the Observer-Reporter and Range Resources, to donate to the charity of her choice. She has selected the Washington Area Humane Society as the recipient of the donation.