The Highland County Volunteer Rescue Squad ("HCVRS") has been operating two Quick Response Vehicles ("QRV's") in Highland County for a number of years to try to speed response times in our rural and very mountainous county.  The County is one of the largest counties in Virginia by land mass, but is the least populated county, with a population of around 2000 residents. Additionally, the County has several mountain ranges with valleys in between, making cross-county transport time-consuming and difficult. Accordingly, it poses a great challenge to HCVRS and the Highland Emergency Medical Service ("HEMS") to reach remote citizens with challenging medical needs.  Each of our QRV's is equipped with full drug boxes to address the most critical patients.  Each QRV has the full capability of our ambulance units, with the single exception of the ability to transport patients.  The QRV's are located in Blue Grass and in McDowell, and the main transport units are located in Monterey, the county seat.

It has come to our attention that the Board of Pharmacy has expressed concern about the storage of drug boxes on the QRV units.  With respect, if the Board of Pharmacy disallows the drug boxes on our QRV units, it will significantly increase response times and puts patients' lives in danger.  

The QRV units are locked at all times, and are equipped with auxiliary power connections to maintain the temperature of the drug boxes on the QRV units.  The drug boxes within the QRV units are also locked.  Accordingly, the units are double-locked and secured with power connections, as they would be in any of our EMS bays.

HCVRS is prepared to register the locations of the QRV units as contemplated by the proposed regulations, but wishes to convey how critical these QRV units are to the response times in our rural area, and for our ability to meet the emergency medical needs of our community.