Larry Hembree
Graham County will soon be without an EMS director, as the Delta Variant continues to take its toll.
County Manager Jason Marino and County Clerk Kim Crisp confirmed that Graham County EMS Director Larry Hembree had tendered his resignation letter last week, and will step down Sept. 30. Hembree has served with Graham County EMS since 1995.
Crisp declined to comment on the circumstances of Hembree’s resignation.
“We’ll advertise for it like any other position in the county,” Crisp said. “We’ll be taking applications.”
Marino said the county was unsure what path it would take to replace Hembree as of yet and was also not sure who would oversee the department, if a new director isn’t hired before Hembree’s departure.
“We have made no decision on a replacement or an interim,” Marino said. “We’re going to see how things go.”
Calls to Hembree remained unanswered as of press time. His departure comes as EMS crews are having to wait hours to offload patients at hospitals such as Erlanger Western Carolina Hospital in Murphy, Swain Community Hospital in Bryson City and Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva, due to the volume of COVID-19 inpatients. Hembree spoke at a special Board of Commissioners meeting earlier this month, pushing for some of the county’s American Rescue plan dollars to be put toward premium pay for EMS workers, who he said had spent the majority of the pandemic caring for COVID patients, with little protection from the virus.