1971 – Area Ambulance Service was established in 1971, based out of Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids. Utilizing two ambulances and twelve employees, the organization
responded to approximately 2,400 calls for service a year
1978 – Area Ambulance Service becomes a Paramedic level service
1999 – AAS begins using 12 Lead capable cardiac monitors in the field
2003 – Dynamic System Status Deployment is initiated
2006 – AAS separates from Mercy Medical Center & the Buchanan County division joins the AAS team
2007 – Remote EKG’s are transmitted to hospital emergency rooms from the field
2008 – The Flood. AAS directs the evacuation of over 200 patients and care center residents from Mercy Medical Center while maintaining required service levels to the community
2010 – Toughbooks are implemented for more accurate electronic patient care charting
2012 – Area Ambulance Service relocates to a new state-of-the-art facility at 2730 12th Street SW
2014 – Area Ambulance Service increases number of available ALS Ambulances to cover Cedar Rapids/ Marion Response Area to 13.
2016 – Area Ambulance Service implements new GPS technology for electronic dispatching and routing.
2020 – Area Ambulance Service implements new decontamination processes in response to COVID-19 Pandemic.
Present – Utilizing 15 ALS ambulances and 65 medics, we respond to over 25,000 calls for service each year