The Impacts Deployment Has On Jobs

NOXUBEE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – National Guard deployments impact soldiers and their families, but they also have a ripple effect in the community.

In Noxubee County, a sheriff’s deputy and a Noxubee General Hospital and LifeCare EMS paramedic, are both being deployed by the National Guard.

Both agencies are losing important members for over a year, while the guardsmen are deployed, and those losses could have big impacts on the small departments, as they try to find temporary replacements.

When a National Guardsman is deployed, they leave behind families, friends, and their jobs.

It will be the first time for Sgt. Ryan Moore, who is a paramedic and the county manager for LifeCare EMS at Noxubee General Hospital.

“Good employees make great soldiers, so it makes sense to hire people that are in the military because they’re good employees, but it’s got to be hard on the employers when we leave to fill those spots and most everybody I know is really supportive about the people that are going and then, you know, those spots being there when you get back.”

Noxubee General Hospital Director of Nurses, Beverly Clark, says the ambulance staff keeps four people on a rotation that lasts two to three days.

She says being short a crew member has a big impact on smaller hospitals and counties.

“They’ve already appointed somebody in his place, but of course, it takes time for them to get used to how things are done here, where people are located in the county, being familiar with the patients, and developing those of type of relationships, so he’ll be greatly missed.”

The Noxubee County Sheriff’s Department will also be down a man, deputy Dontevis Smith.

Smith is the department’s youngest deputy.

He has been with the department for three years, working the night-shift.

Sheriff Terry Grassaree says losing Smith will leave them with six deputies and he will have to find someone part-time to fill in the gap.

“So much goes on at night, and especially on those weekends, and then you’ve got to be comfortable enough to handle it without getting out there and over handling it, so like I said, he used his head real good on it. Usually, when you get a night shift man trained up, you hate to lose him so, but like I said, he won’t be gone too long, God willing and he’ll come on back and we’ll put him back to work.”

Both men are with the National Guard.

They are expected to be on duty for 18 months.

There are also two LifeCare EMTs out of Noxubee County being deployed.