One of the great things about being the President of Community EMS, Inc., is that CEMS is the parent corporation of four other corporations within Michigan and Ohio. That being said, running CEMS is not unlike being the father of a large family. I have, over the years, watched my family grow in size and personality. Like any family, the years have been rewarded with pride and, at times, tremendous challenge. I am actually writing this article to brag about our corporate family for I feel we are a great family and have much to be thankful for. Many of you reading this message may be new within our corporation and you may not be familiar with all the entities within our corporate family so now is a great time to talk about us.

Community EMS: Founded in August of 1982, CEMS is now the oldest licensed EMS system in Oakland County. CEMS employs over 350 employees and, at one time, was the largest private emergent EMS provider in Michigan. Over the last several years, the emergent volume declined mostly because many fire departments in our region started to provide EMS services. Over the last 12 months, CEMS has started to see its volume return through improved performance monitoring and reporting which is shared with our clients and employees. CEMS is currently fully staffed with highly qualified personnel and is positioned to again to be the leader in Michigan.

Life Support Training Institute: LSTI was established in 1987 for the purpose of providing our employees training and education. Over the years, LSTI has become a leader in pre-hospital training and education. Recently LSTI passed its state accreditation and is one of the only private, non-college affiliated institutes to do so. LSTI is now preparing to gain national accreditation that would allow students to obtain federal tuition grants. LSTI employs five staff members and greater than 30 instructors. LSTI has enabled our organization to grow through providing highly qualified professionals to all of our organizations as well as providing our current employees with continuing education and career advancing training. LSTI is projecting its largest enrollment over the next 12 months.

Parastar Emergency Systems: Established in 1990, Parastar was developed as the only for-profit entity of Community EMS. Parastar is a consulting company that specializes EMS logistic management and outsourced management contracts. Parastar is also responsible for the day-to-day management of our Joint Venture partnerships. Recently Parastar has started to manage account receivables for Fire Service EMS as well as providing consulting services nationally for large healthcare systems that either own EMS companies or who are looking to enter into the EMS arena. Parastar has approximately 20 employees. Hopefully, Parastar will soon be bringing two additional members into our family through joint venture partnerships.

Community Ambulance of Zanesville Ohio: Founded in August of 1994, CAS was our first joint venture partnership. CAS celebrates its 10th anniversary this month and is considered one of the premier EMS systems in the state of Ohio. CAS employs over 100 employees and is the only private EMS service for Muskingum County. Soon CAS may enter into yet another county contiguous with Muskingum County as its sole private provider. Like CEMS, CAS is currently deploying the same technology to provide high quality EMS and logistic management in the form of Mobile Data Terminals (MDT’s), handheld field data collection devices, and Zoll 12-lead EKG monitors. CAS and its employees are some of the finest in the industry and a true pleasure to have within our family. We will be soon distributing a film made by the CAS staff relating to the history of CAS.

Regional EMS: Established in January of 1996, REMS is a Joint Venture partnership with McLaren Health system in the Flint area. Regional EMS currently provides quality EMS services to two counties Genesee and Ingham. REMS employees over 80 employees and is looking to become the largest EMS provider in Genesee and Ingham Counties. At present REMS is looking for a new facility in Genesee County as they have outgrown their existing headquarters. The new modern facility is slated to house an LSTI satellite EMS training facility as well as a CEMTECH repair facility.

HealthLink Medical Transportation: Established in July of 1997 as a Joint Venture partnership with Oakwood Health Care System. HealthLink is our fastest growing company employing more than 150 employees. HealthLink is now considered the premier EMS service in Western Wayne County. HealthLink not only provides high-level EMS services in their region but also has one of the largest courier services in Michigan providing services to the Oakwood system as well as their large outreach lab. HealthLink too has outgrown its headquarters and is in the process of designing a brand new larger facility that will also include a LSTI and CEMTECH satellite. This is an organization to watch for in a short period of time they have become leaders in their region and are now looking to the west for further expansion.

CEMTECH: The newest member in our family, founded in 2003, CEMTECH is a repair facility within CEMS main headquarters. CEMTECH began offering mechanical repairs at discount rates to employees within the system. Recently CEMTECH added four new hoists in an expansion into what was once the warehouse facility on the east side of our headquarters and will have a staff of over twenty. CEMTECH is now doing the warranty work for Wheeled Coach and will soon be signing on new large fleet accounts.

The above is an overview of our family growth. As a family, we have accomplished great things over the years and you all should be commended. As I said at the beginning, not all has been positive and we have had our challenges but with the great talent and dedication that most within this family have shown, we will prevail and become stronger. I hope we keep adding to this family for it great to watch it progress.

Greg Beauchemin
President and CEO