When Hurricane Harvey ravaged the Houston area in August 2017, the Windsor Emergency Medical Services team was on the front lines, alongside all of the region's local EMS agencies, responding to the scenario and assisting those in need.
That's just one example of how Windsor EMS, a private EMS company, has shown up for this community for the better part of two decades.
Celebrating its 20-year anniversary in 2024, Windsor EMS, based in Webster, TX, covers the entire Houston metropolitan area. With services spanning from Mount Belvieu to Brookshire, all the way up to Huntsville, there are more than 24 ambulances and approximately 125 employees who help ensure people get the medical and transport assistance they need.
"We handle a lot of transfers from hospital to hospital," says Alton Henderson, director of Business Development for the company. "We help take a load off of the 9-1-1 system by giving callers a different option in non life-threatening emergencies."
Henderson, who has been with the company for more than 12 years starting first as a medic before working his way up to the role he holds now, is quick to point out that the list of services Windsor can provide is far and wide.
Beyond just doing transfers and closing the gap for traditional 9-1-1 ambulance services locally when needed, they also travel across the state to help other areas that have fewer resources than Houston.
"We've provided support in El Paso and Brownsville," said Henderson. "We were deployed for 13 months providing support at the Texas border. Every job and contract is a bit different, but we're equipped to meet the needs of them all."
The COVID pandemic was a time when the Windsor EMS crews frequently found themselves called to service out of town.
"People were getting sick--including members of the local EMS teams," said Henderson. "So, as call volumes continued to increase with the spreading sickness, we were able to be there for those communities."
When talking about the work the Windsor crews do, Henderson is quick to mention it's not as flashy as what might be found working with a "traditional" 9-1-1 crew supporting a municipality.
"The vast majority of what we support is medical patients, not the trauma cases that make the headlines," he said, mentioning, though, that they are equipped to handle the more severe issues such as chokings and gunshots—it's just a matter of where the need is at the time.
Around the holidays one need they see arise is transporting loved ones who have mobility issues to important traditions and get-togethers.
"We've done everything from taking people to weddings, birthday parties, Thanksgiving dinners," he said. "Even the zoo. Our side of EMS provides a way to bring people together and it does get particularly busy during the holidays."
Dedicating more than half of his career to serving with Windsor—which also provides occasional first aid support to large-scale events—Henderson mentions that he didn't learn much about this side of the business while training to be a medic.
"I love spreading awareness about all that we do," he said. "Without services like ours, so much is impacted. Hospitals would have to have every single specialty available to patients since there wouldn't be anyone to transfer between facilities. We're vital to hospitals and health care, especially when you're supporting the communities around the largest medical center in the world."