CREMS MISSION: "EMS in EVERY HOME"
Copper River EMS Council, Inc. (CREMS) is a private nonprofit EMS agency that has served the Copper River Basin since the early 1980's. CREMS provides the entire region with 24/7/365 Advanced Life Support 911 Ambulance service. We utilize a hybrid/semi-pro model with one paid lead medic stationed in Glennallen who is on duty 24/7. We also rely on our dedicated volunteer responders who sign-up for 12-hour on-call ambulance shifts or simply respond to calls when they are available. We maintain 3 fully-stocked, response ready ambulances with 2 stationed in Glennallen and one in Kenny Lake.
Serving The Community
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For more than 40 years, volunteers from all over the Copper River Basin have dedicated themselves and their time to their fellow community members in their time of need. This inspiring video made by Ray Voley (AKWild1 LLC), a past First Responder, showcases some of the amazing individuals who have selflessly trained, responded, and served their communities as EMS First Responders.
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Support Your LOCAL 911 Ambulance Service
CREMS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and we depend on community support.
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Updated 1/7/26:
We reset our donation thermometers to $0 on July 1, 2025 and after 6 months are already well on our way to the FY26 donation goals! The Grants/large donors needle should also begin to rise quickly as well thanks to CRNA's continued support of CREMS as a subaward entity for the SAMHSA Rural EMS training grant. CREMS will receive nearly $125,000 from this grant award between 10/1/25 - 9/30/26. We would like to recognize and give thanks to our recent donations, grants, and CAP funds received since our last update (on 10/10/25): $5,000 grant award from the Alaska Community Foundation, $1,000 from the Copper Basin Lions Club, $5,645 additional subaward grant funds from CRNA (via SAMHSA), CAP funds from the Kenny Lake Community League ($8,365) and Copper Valley Community Library Association ($3,200), an amazingly generous anonymous bequest of $40,000, and many additional donations from individuals, families, and small organizations/businesses such as O’Morley’s gas station (Delta Junction), the GHS Nat’l Honor Society, Robert & Emilie Frisbie, Carol & Ben Compton, CVEA Pumpkin Patch, Russ & Sherri Scribner, Cliff Eames, Mary Howarth-Hernandez, Sue Moore, Ralph & Jan Morehouse, Mark Huddleston, Clint & Kareena Best, Paul Lewis, Jim & Mary Odden, Paul Boos & Janelle Eklund, Kurtis Skoog, Copper Basin Pregnancy Center, James Barnes, Linda & Jim Marchini, Gordon Lindgren, William & Bonnie McLeod, Glenna Dufresne, Terry & Sally Keizer, Shailen Pratap. -- Thanks to everyone who has donated and contributed and please keep the support flowing! Every donation makes a difference. FY25 set a high bar and we hope to be able to exceed our fundraising goals again in FY26! Click here to see the FY25 totals and a full list of donors ... |
Volunteer Spotlight - Kristy Johns
CREMS is proud to introduce Kristy Johns as our Fall 2025 Volunteer Spotlight. Kristy is one of our most active volunteer responders with the Glennallen Ambulance!
Kristy was born in Alaska and raised in Copper Center and Kenny Lake until the age of 7. She lived in Pennsylvania for 11 years and then came back to Alaska in 2017 at the age of 18. She is Ahtna Athabaskan from the Native Village of Kluti-Kaah. Kristy became interested in the medical field after working in CRNA Primary Care front desk for 3 years. She first obtained her EMT-1 Certification in Spring of 2022 and later advanced to an AK EMT-2 Certification in Fall of 2022. She decided she wanted to work as one of the Emergency Services Technician in CRNA's Primary Care Clinic to gain experience in the eventual hope of being a Community Health Aide. She had always admired their work, and how their positions were tailor-made to fit rural Alaska. Kristy says "I thought it was an amazing way to help the local community and have a long term career. I realized my dream of becoming a health aide and attended Session I in August of 2024." Kristy is now a CHA-II in the Gulkana Community Health Clinic. Kristy says that she "has a passion for the work I do serving the community as a healthcare provider and bridging the gap by bringing vital services to the villages and to homes. I am attending Session III in December, and eventually hope to become a Community Health Practitioner (CHP) which is the highest level after Session IV. I decided to volunteer with CREMS because I saw the need for more volunteers, in order to have a well functioning 24 hour 911 service. I saw the peace of mind it brought to community members. I knew I would also have anxiety if I were in their shoes, especially since we have no 24 hour emergency healthcare available here. I also believe it is a good way to become more proficient in my skills, in order to better serve patients. I see it in a similar light to the work I do as a CHA. Bridging the gap so to speak." Thank you Kristy for all that you do to support healthcare in the Copper River region! |
