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[Identification of item], History of Emergency Services in Owsley County, September 2005, 2005PA46, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries, Lexington
Owsley County is located in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. A rural area encompassing almost 200 square miles, in 2000 Owsley County had a population of only 4,858 people. Booneville, the county seat, had a population of 111 people. Until 1970, Owsley County did not have a formal ambulance service; instead, the local undertaker supplied transportation to hospitals for a fee. In 1970, a new health care program in Perry County, Kentucky began providing ambulance service to neighboring counties, including Owsley. In 1972, the Booneville-Owsley County Volunteer Fire Department was formed; their first truck was a 1948 Chevrolet Chassis. Three years after its beginnings, ambulance services in Owsley County were bankrupt and non-functioning. However, in 1974, a local resident, Dalphus Allen, founded the first permanent ambulance service in that county: Allen's Ambulance Service. On August 28, 1987, University of Kentucky Medical Center began providing the first helicopter ambulance services to rural Kentucky, including Owsley County. Thirty-one years later, both Allen's Ambulance Service and the Booneville-Owsley County Volunteer Fire Department continue to serve Owsley County, as does the University of Kentucky Air Medical Service.
This collection documents the ways in which ambulance and fire department services are provided to rural areas in Kentucky.
Original order has been preserved; digital prints were arranged by the creator as supplements that correlate with the manuscript and the video presentation.