South Central
Ambulance District

Ashtabula County South Central Ambulance District (SCAD) was born on January 1, 1975. Its first crew was manned by a Deputy and an EMT with Basic Life Support Skills. They drove a Black and White ambulance with a star on its side and patrolled around like a police cruiser and when an EMS call came in the crew shifted into EMS mode.

In November of 1974 individual Ashtabula County townships and political subdivisions voted on levies to raise money for ambulance services. Soon after that the south county townships pooled their money together to form SCAD (Morgan Twp., Rock Creek Vil., Lenox Twp., Dorset Twp., Rome Twp., New Lyme Twp., Orwell Twp., Orwell Vil., and Colebrook Twp.) In March of 1979 SCAD separated themselves from the Ashtabula County Sheriff's Dept. and found a new home for the next 26 years in the Rome Township Vol. Fire Dept.

Its first operating EMT's were after going stationary in Rome Township EMS Director EMT Dave Wilber, EMT James Wann, EMT Dan Koziol, EMT Ed Green, EMT Rick Titus, EMT Roger Paxton, EMT Dennis Rhodes. After moving into their new home their first bunk house was a travel trailer and they were kept warm by a wood burner stove.

During the first three years, SCAD saw some tight financial times that resulted in self-imposed pay freezes by the employees to keep the district going. Early in the 1970's ambulance drivers were trained to be EMT's or Emergency Medical Technicians (no longer to be considered just Ambulance Drivers), Meaning they were trained to respond to illness or injuries with basic first aid skills and CPR training. In 1976 the term paramedic emerged and allowed the EMT's to advance their training with skills that were then only seen in hospitals. Paramedics were trained to interpret Cardiac arrhythmia's, administer intravenous fluids as well as medications and secure airways. Since then, SCAD's crews have changed, their ambulance have grown, more drugs have been added to their kits, and the equipment has become more advanced. Roaming Shores Village was formed and became an entity of SCAD and Hartsgrove Twp. joined SCAD soon after. In 2023 Cherry Valley Twp joined the district making the district 220 sq/miles.

In 2005, SCAD moved into their new home at 3100 Route 6 just east of the former home Rome Fire Dept. The new building was completely paid for by money that was set aside over 26 years, and no taxes were raised in the process.

Today SCAD has seven full-time Paramedics and 21 part-time EMTs and Paramedics. Currently the district has four Advanced Life Support Equipped Ambulances, three based in Rome and one based in Dorset. SCAD is automatic aid for 6 fire depts. and has CPR and First aid classes throughout the year.