Photo by Jim Tate Jenny Kirchner is director of Murray County Ambulance.

For Jenny Kirchner, director of the Murray County Ambulance, it’s all about serving people.

“I fell in love with the nature of the work,” said Kirchner. “It’s exciting, each day is different, and you never run across a situation twice.”

Kirchner is a hometown Slayton girl who met her husband Jason when she was a high school wrestling cheerleader and he was a member of the wrestling team. Jason is from the Fulda area, and Murray Country Central and Fulda pair for the sport of wrestling. They are the parents of four children: A.J., 14; Amira, 12; Lola, 11; and Alliana, 4.

She earned a degree in social work from Wisconsin-River Falls and returned to the area after graduating in 2008. She joined Murray County Ambulance after continuous urging from a friend, Craig Gertsema. “We bowled in a league once a week and he was an EMT,” she recalls.

“He kept bugging me. I’m headstrong, independent and have never been afraid of injuries or body fluids. I gave in and took classes in Fulda to become an EMT.”

She joined the ambulance service as an EMT in 2009, and became its director in 2011.

The reasoning that went into her choosing social work as a college major holds true with the qualities needed in her current position.

“I enjoy people, have empathy and it just rang true as far as who I am. You come in contact with people at their lowest, when their lives are upset,” she said.

Murray County Ambulance has two rigs, said Kirchner, which are housed just off of Main Street. “There’s two bedrooms there, a community room and shower.” The service is under the umbrella of the Murray County Medical Center, and Kirchner has an office at the hospital.

There’s two-full time employees, one part-time person, and 18 volunteers, said Kirchner. The service is staffed 24/7. She said that it’s the goal to have two licensed individuals on each call.

“We have two, and three, when we can,” she said.

The ambulance service covers 295 square miles and includes the communities of Slayton, Hadley, Iona, Avoca, Currie and Lake Wilson. It also covers the Lake Shetek and Lake Sara areas.

There’s two shifts, from 6 a.m.-6 p.m., and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Individuals on call must be within 10 minutes of the ambulance garage. The average response time is 4 minutes. Murray County Ambulance handled 480 calls last year.

“We do a lot of hospital-to-hospital transfers,” said Kirchner.

She sees the big picture, and encourages individuals to get into the medical field through a unique partnership between Murray County Central High School and the Murray County Medical Center, who offer a yearly PSEO class that is medical-related.

“The first is a medical career class, and the next year it is a focus on medical terminology. They alternate yearly,” said Kirchner.

“It’s a good place to start if you have the interest. EMS can lead you to many medical careers, such as paramedic, flight medic, and you can even go on to get your RN licensure. There’s many career options.”

Community outreach and education are also a part of the job. She gives groups tours of the ambulances, and gives CPR and first aid training to youth groups, businesses, sheriff’s dispatchers, day care personnel — “just about anyone that asks,” said Kirchner.

She is continually training to keep her licenses up to date.

Are there certain qualities that make someone a good candidate to work in the field? “Compassion; empathy, you serve everyone; bravery, it can be scary and require you to work in sketchy environments; sacrifice; and dedication,” she ticked off.

Kirchner is proud that Murray County Ambulance was the fist in the state to utilize Avel eCare EMS, which allows remote access to medical professionals based in South Dakota. They provide real-time guidance to emergency responders in the field. In effect, it allows ambulance personnel to feed vital medical information to medical experts. That helps save time, and lives, feels Kirchner.

Being director is not easy, said Kirchner. “It’s a 24/7 job, someone has to take the weekend calls, the night calls. But it’s also very rewarding, and serves the people of the region.”