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After 16 years as chief of Grand County EMS, Ray Jennings announced his retirement from the position in January.
Jennings, who was appointed to chief in 2003, helped transform Grand County’s EMS into one of the top performing ambulance services in the country.
“On behalf of everyone at Grand County, thank you Chief Jennings for everything you have done for GCEMS, the community, and the EMS industry,” a county press release stated. “Your leadership and commitment to excellence will truly be missed.”
Some of the challenges Jennings addressed during his tenure include improving response times, quality of service, training and community involvement.
Utilizing his knowledge of the county, Jennings established a new way of staging ambulances so that EMS could get to any call in the county in just over 10 minutes on average.
Jennings also developed an emergency medical technician class at the local high schools, giving students the opportunity to learn job skills and introduce them to the medical field.
Outside of Grand County, Jennings has served at the governor’s pleasure on the State Emergency Medical and Trauma Committee and is involved in the Chiefs, Managers and Directors Group (CMD) in Colorado, as well as the national American Ambulance Association.
Through the EMSAC CMD group, he has testified and lobbied for multiple pieces of legislation that directly affect emergency response or responders, according to the release.
The county has already posted a job and hopes to have the position filled by January.