ROME TOWNSHIP — In 1975, a gallon of gas was 44 cents, the shark thriller movie, Jaws, was a box office hit, Microsoft became a registered trademark, and on Jan. 1, South Central Ambulance District was born.

In the beginning South Central Ambulance District (SCAD), which was known as District 5, was housed and operated by the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department in Jefferson.

“We drove around in black and white ambulances with a star on the side. We were cross-trained as deputies and patrolled around just like a police cruiser,” said Dan Koziol, director of SCAD since 2001, with a total of 34 years. “When an ambulance call came in, we would drop what we were doing and go to the call.”

The evolution of service that began in 1975 was necessary because before that time there were only ambulance drivers from the local funeral homes and the drivers had little or no medical training.

“They just drove very fast to get the person to the hospital as quick as possible,” Koziol said.

In November of 1974, individual Ashtabula County townships and political subdivisions voted on levies to raise money for ambulance services, said Dave Wilber, former SCAD director.

“Then the south county townships pooled their money together to form the South Central Ambulance District,” he said.

SCAD covers an area of eight townships and three villages or 275 square miles. These include Orwell, Colebrook, Hartsgrove (who joined the district around 1990), Rome, New Lyme, Morgan, Lenox and Dorset Townships; and Orwell, Rock Creek and Roaming Shores Villages.

“Our board, who meets once a month, is made up of one representative from each area,” Wilber said. “The board makes decisions on expenditures, how our district should be run and how we can better ourselves.”

In March of 1979, SCAD separated themselves from the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department and found a new home for the next 26 years at the Rome Township Fire Department.

“They welcomed us with open arms and we have some great memories of those first years at the fire department,” Koziol said. “Our first bunk house was a travel trailer parked inside the building, and we kept warm by keeping the wood burner fed.”

During those first three years, SCAD saw some tight financial times that resulted in self-imposed wage freezes by the employees to keep the district going, Wilber said.

Early in the 1970s, ambulance drivers could be trained to become EMTs or Emergency Medical Technicians, meaning they were trained to respond to illness or injuries with basic first-aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation skills (CPR).

In 1976, the term paramedic emerged which enabled an EMT with paramedic training to respond and perform treatments, that were at the time, only accomplished in a hospital emergency room. These treatments included interpretation and treat heart arrhythmia, administer intravenous fluids and pain medications, secure airways and much more.

“We chuckle about when the term “paramedics” was first introduced, many people thought it meant “a pair of medics,” Wilber said.

With the advancement of technology, SCAD personnel have kept up with the evolution by constantly training and working hard to make sure they are fully equipped to better serve their district.

“The most important advances I have seen are the helicopter transports and the heart monitors and automatic defibrillators,” Koziol said.

Jim Wann was only 20 years-years-old when he started with SCAD on Jan. 1, 1975.

“I got started in this because I wanted to help people,” Wann said who worked full-time for 29 years and continues to work part-time today. “It’s been exciting to see the technology change over the years for the good of the patient.”

“It is definitely a team effort here and we have always been like a family,” he said.

In 2005, SCAD moved into their own building at 3100 Route 6, just east of the Rome Township Fire Department.

“This building is completely paid for, our board has never taken out a loan for anything, we have always been very frugal,” Wilber said. “Our board had the foresight to see what we needed and has been aggressive with making advancements.”

Today, SCAD has 14 part-time and seven full-time employees.

“We could not do our job without the part-time people: they do a great job for us,” Koziol said. “We have had very little turnover and most of our people have been with us for 15 years or more.”

The district has three ambulance units with a new one arriving in March.

In 1975 a new ambulance cost $12,000; today a smaller unit costs $153,000 and that is not including the equipment which would add a cost of $40,000, Koziol said.

“We answered about 1,100 calls this year,” he said. “We could not have done anything if it had not been for the citizens in our district and their support of us all these years.