Press Releases
Dustin Michael Named Head of EMS/Fire Brigade
Posted on Monday, June 15th, 2026
New Leader in Emergency Services: Dustin Michael has been promoted
to EMS Manager, the top post in the EMS/Fire Brigade operated by
Mercy Health Love County Hospital.
For many in Love County, Dustin Michael is the face of firefighting. For 32 years, he has volunteered with the Marietta Volunteer Fire Department, including a long tenure as chief.
His service expanded in 2008 when WinStar Casino began building hotels and contracted with Love County EMS to add fire and rescue capabilities to the county‑owned ambulance service. Michael transitioned to a professional role at that time, continuing the work he describes simply as “helping the community” — a commitment he has lived around the clock.
In December 2025, that long record of service culminated in his appointment as the head of Love County EMS/Fire Brigade. Formally titled EMS Manager, he was named to the post by Mercy Health Love County Hospital, which manages the unified ambulance and fire operation.
Love County’s model is believed to be the only hospital‑based EMS in the United States that maintains a Fire Brigade — a term used when a fire department functions as a subset of a company or organization.
Station 2 of Love County EMS/Fire Brigade is located on casino grounds at Exit 1-Interstate 35. Under its roof are a platform truck, an engine truck, a brush truck, and several ambulances. There, paid firefighters — all cross‑trained as Paramedics or EMTs — work 48‑hour shifts providing emergency medical...
T+2: Where We Stand Two Years After Destructive Tornado
Posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2026
Proud of New ER: Outside the temporary ER on April 16, 2025, are
(back) John Galano, MLS, laboratory director and Cierra
Lee, RN. (front) Gay Galano, MT, laboratory technologist;
Vanessa Aldaba, LPN; Chela Santibanez, RN, ER Nurse
Manager; Kari Cochran, PA-C, physician assistant;
and David Manning, RN.
(See below for another photo)
Two years following a devastating tornado, a replacement hospital is edging closer to reality and all pre-tornado outpatient care is now fully operational at Mercy Health Love County in Marietta.
Hospital Board of Control chairman Richard Barker praised work that has been done repairing buildings and rejuvenating damaged services.
“We are moving closer and closer to reaching closure with FEMA, thanks to our Oklahoma Congressional delegation. I am proud of our hospital administrator Scott Callender and his team for all they have done the past two years. They have been redirected many times in their interactions, given the turnover in FEMA representatives and the loss of funding that agency has experienced.”
Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole is chair of the House Appropriations Committee and his office stepped in recently to assist the hospital and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as they complete their engagement.
Still to be decided by FEMA assessors is whether to pay for repairs to the damaged hospital or to authorize a completely new facility on the same site. “Our goal is to have private beds and 25 of them as...
Clinic Welcomes New Physician Assistant
Posted on Friday, April 24th, 2026
Bradley Taylor, PA-C, began seeing patients in the Mercy Health
Love County Clinic on April 8, 2026.
A well-prepared physician assistant has joined Mercy Health Love County Clinic. He is Bradley Taylor, age 33, whose area of practice is family medicine.
Taylor began seeing patients on April 8. He is an Ardmore native who graduated in 2011 from Ardmore High school. He then went on to graduate from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s in science followed by PA school at OU College of Medicine where he became a Board-Certified Physician Assistant in 2020. During his training, he developed a passion for internal medicine as well as emergency medicine bringing a well-rounded approach to treating patients of all ages.
Taylor has been practicing in internal medicine at Mercy Hospital Ada followed by Mercy Hospital Healdton for the last three years. He has also practiced in the emergency departments in Ada, Ardmore and Healdton in available time since graduating.
When he isn’t working, Taylor enjoys spending time with his wife, Taryn, and their three young children, all age 5 and under, where he cheers them along and coaches them in sports. He also enjoys golf.
“Everyone here has been welcoming, and I am excited to get to know and serve this community,” he said. “I am looking forward to building a practice for the whole family and following patients along for years to come.”
The clinic’s primary providers now include Bradley Taylor, PA-C, Dr. Stacy...
New Sonographer Joins Radiology Department
Posted on Friday, April 10th, 2026
Jami Buhrmester, RDMS, is a new sonographer doing ultrasound testing.
New Sonographer Joins Mercy Health Love County Imaging Services
The popular ultrasound service at Mercy Health Love County has added a new technologist.
She is Jami Buhrmester, associate sonographer, who began operating the hospital’s Phillips Affiniti 70 Ultrasound System on March 30, 2026.
“I’ve been busy from day one and I like it here,” said Buhrmester. With 25 years of experience in the field, the friendly technologist is deep in knowledge and compassion.
An ultrasound (or sonogram) scanner uses sound waves instead of radiation to create images of organs and structures inside the body.
The test is used most often to evaluate liver, gall bladder, pancreas, kidneys, and carotid arteries in the neck. “An ultrasound is the easiest and least invasive of procedures for the patient,” Buhrmester said.
But scanning calls for precision and detail on the part of the technician. “I find myself going back over areas to be sure I am thorough and obtaining the highest image quality the machine can produce.”
The ultrasound scan begins with the application of gel to the part of the body under study. The technician then sweeps a probe, called a transducer back and forth over the skin.
The transducer sends high-frequency sound waves and records the waves that echo back from internal organs, fluids, and tissues.
The waves are measured and displayed by a computer, which also displays the resulting...
New Cooler-Freezer Added to Hospital Food Pantry
Posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026
It’s Cool Inside: A giant cooler-freezer was added to the Mercy Health Love County
Food Pantry in February, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation. Yes, It’s Tall Too: Jessica Crosthwait stands inside, where the cooler is
10’x12’ and the freezer is 10’x10’.
SOMF Grant Brings Walk-In Cooler-Freezer to Pantry
A new walk-in cooler-freezer has been installed in the Mercy Health Love County Food Pantry on Memorial Drive in Marietta, restoring substantial refrigeration for the first time since the May 2024 tornado destroyed the original pantry building and equipment.
A $50,000 gift from the Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation funded the purchase. “We are very grateful to Southern Oklahoma Memorial Foundation for helping the pantry in such a meaningful and long-lasting way,” said Jessica Crosthwait, who oversees the hospital’s food purchases from the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.
The combination unit includes a 10’x10’ freezer and a 10’x12’ cooler, manufactured by Leer and sold by a local Ravia company, JayComp Development. Both sides were stocked and ready for the pantry’s regular Tuesday distribution from 8 a.m. to noon. With the added capacity, Crosthwait said the pantry can now accept more produce, meats, dairy, and even freeze bread shipments over the weekend to distribute fresh on Tuesdays.
Before the installation, cold storage consisted of three small 10‑cubic‑foot chest freezers, forcing the pantry to decline free...