Tama Ambulance Service

10/31/2026

Just kidding!
We hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! While you’re out trick or treating, stop by the ambulance garage and grab some candy! If the doors are open, there should be someone there.

Watch for cars leaving the parking lot!
Don’t forget the candy tax to all grown ups when you get home!

We’d love to see all your costumes, post them in the comments. The one with the most likes might get a prize!!!

10/31/2026

10/28/2026

While you’re out trick or treating, stop by the ambulance shed for some candy! If the garage doors are open, someone will be there to hand out to treats! No tricks required

Please be safe in the parking lot and watch for emergency vehicles leaving!

10/28/2026

They said it much better than we could…

🚒🚑🚓 National First Responders Day — Honoring Those Who Run Toward the Danger 🤍🇺🇸

I've often thought about the extraordinary courage it takes to run toward something everyone else is trying to escape.

When emergencies happen, most of us instinctively look for safety. But somewhere, someone hears that call for help and begins moving toward the very situation we're desperate to get away from.

Firefighters, police officers, paramedics, EMTs, and emergency dispatchers witness some of life's most frightening and heartbreaking moments. They're often expected to remain calm while everything around them is falling apart.

But something we sometimes forget is that behind those uniforms are ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

They're mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, sons and daughters. They have families waiting for them to come home, and they carry memories of difficult calls that don't always disappear when their shifts end.

The lives they couldn't save. The faces they can't forget. The moments when doing everything possible still wasn't enough.

And yet, they continue showing up.

I think there's something incredibly humbling about that.

Because courage isn't always about being fearless. Sometimes it's about answering the call despite knowing what it might cost.

And not every heroic moment makes the evening news.

Sometimes it's a reassuring voice on the other end of a 911 call. A steady hand offered to someone who's frightened. Or a few extra moments spent comforting a family whose world has suddenly changed.

Sometimes being someone's hero simply means making sure they don't have to face their darkest moment alone.

So today, let's remember the people behind the uniforms, the sacrifices their families make, and the compassion they extend to complete strangers.

To every first responder who has ever answered a call for help, thank you.

And to those who have given their lives in service to others, may your sacrifice never be forgotten.

Because behind every emergency call is someone praying help will arrive. And behind that help is a human being who chose to answer. 🤍🚒🚑🚓🕊️✨

— Thoughts That Linger 🤍

10/28/2026

October 28th is National First Responder day. We would like to take a minute to thank all our crew members who respond to the call whether paid or volunteer. You make a difference in the lives of the patients you take care of and are invaluable to the community we all serve.

Thank you to each and every surrounding department we work with! We are fortunate to have such dedicated community partners to work along side when the community needs it most.

To our dispatch partners - thank you for always answering the call, for staying calm on the phone, for being our calm voice on the other end of the phone.

To our first responder partners - thank you for arriving on scene and starting care before we arrive. We appreciate all you do for everyone and you provide the best care for patients when they need it in the more rural areas.

To our law enforcement partners - thank you for all your help every day in making sure we are all safe and for responding to the calls to help in any way needed.

To our fire fighter partners - thank you for all you do, whether it’s an accident that needs all the equipment to get someone out of a vehicle, or to make sure the vehicle is stable, or even just to come and help when we need some extra hands.

Each and every one of you play a vital role in our community and we could not do our job as EMS providers without you. Hopefully you all know how much you are appreciated the other 364 days of the year as well!

And now we hope you all have a quiet shift!

10/27/2026

Looks like we have a challenge!!!

Challenge accepted! 🚑⭐️

Thank you to Johnson County Ambulance Service for nominating us for the Star of Life Challenge!

Our crews came together to recreate the six points of the Star of Life, representing the essential components of emergency medical services.

Now it's our turn to keep the challenge going!
Tama Ambulance Service
Blairstown Ambulance
Keokuk County Ambulance
Belle Plaine Area Ambulance Service

10/27/2026

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf2vHs0T-JoQPo5IPPw3UcQ3BbVf8BM-WUbf_akmJ1Olq186Q/viewform?usp=publish-editor

If you’re interested in volunteering, we now have an online application!

Tama EMS is accepting applications for volunteer drivers and providers. On the job training provided. Flexible hours available.

10/27/2026

You wake up in the middle of the night with crushing chest pain and call 911 for an ambulance. Sorry, we don’t have the staff, you’ll have to wait for another ambulance to respond.

You wake up in the morning to your significant other not breathing. The 911 dispatcher says they will walk you through CPR, but there is no ambulance available to come and help.

Your loved one or you fall down the stairs and can’t get up, they have back pain and are bleeding from the head. Just lay there, we don’t have an ambulance to help you right now.

Your child falls outside from playground equipment and you think they have a broken limb. You can’t move them. Sorry, we don’t have an ambulance to send to you right now.

When someone calls 911, for whatever the emergency, it is an unwritten rule that help will come. Everyone assumes that a bright ambulance will show up with the lights and sirens to come and help you or your loved one on the worst day of their life. Anyone who is in EMS, no matter what level, will tell you they do this to help people.

In Iowa, it is estimated that over 64% of EMS services are heavily volunteer based. What happens when the volunteers don’t want to volunteer? What happens when the current volunteer population is ready to retire and there aren’t lines of volunteers to take their place?

The above is what has the potential to happen. It is across the state, across all volunteer based agencies. There is a shortage and that shortage could be the difference between you or your most cherished people getting the help they need on the worst day of their life.

I hear it frequently on the radio - services can’t get a crew together so they have the next closest service paged…but what happens when that service doesn’t have a crew or the next one after that?

We have posted it before, we are short volunteers. Drivers and providers. If you or someone you know is interested in learning about EMS, whether you want to drive or take an EMT class, we would love to hear from you.

Here is what we offer:
A small hourly pay - $4 during the week and $5 during the weekend, plus $20 for each call where the ambulance leaves the station. Doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but you can respond from home, so we will pay you to hang out at home until the pager goes off. We have some members with call volume that have made $2000 plus a quarter.

The potential to start collecting IPERS retirement.

Up to date equipment to cover all types of potential emergencies.

On the job training. Don’t know how to drive an ambulance? That’s OK, we will teach you.

We also have monthly trainings that are free for providers and an online training platform for all our EMS levels.

Most importantly, it is a way to help the community, your neighbor, your coworker on the potentially worst day of their life.

Imagine if you called 911 and nobody showed up…

If you or someone you know is interested, please stop down to the city clerk’s office during normal business hours or send us a message.

We are working on getting an online application together and will get that posted.