Community pitches in for brand new ambulance to boost health resources
WEST, Texas (KWTX) - After going half a year with only two ambulance trucks, West EMS finally got a new one delivered.
West EMS said the community pitched in to help raise the $395,000 dollars, but first responders still need donations for the truck’s equipment.
Director of operations, Tom Marek, said EMS is in better shape now with this new ambulance truck, which comes with upgraded features to serve the 1,200 calls they get a year.
“We were fortunate enough to find a vendor. Most of the trucks on average take 10 months to get purchased and built. We were fortunate enough they already had chastity. They let us come up and helped designed it, and they processed it pretty quicky,” said Marek.
Marek said in December of last year, West EMS was called out to Hillsboro to help with an emergency call but was T-boned and sideswiped while on the way there.
He said thankfully no one was hurt, but the ambulance was totaled, which brought the number of ambulances from three to two.
“It put more of a burden on our neighbors to assist us more. Usually, we can handle most of our call volume. When we have a county call and a city call, we always had a reserve truck. And at that time, we went almost four months without a reserve truck,” said Marek.
Marek said West EMS knew they had to fill the gap, but with a $150,000 price tag to worry about after insurance.
However, once community fundraisers brought in $53,000 and several donors like Centex roofing pitched in, Marek said West EMS reached their goal and got a brand-new truck.
“The community is real supportive. That’s why we would like to get the word out about that we finally did purchase the truck. A lot of people gave to us when we did our fundraiser. Our committee actually changed our color scheme to west colors, red and black for the Trojans,” said Marek.
The new truck has a harness like seatbelts so first responders can safely be in the truck while treating a patient.
There’s driving safety features and a new automatic stretcher so first responders won’t have to lift as much.
Yet, it’s not ready to roll since the truck needs all its medical equipment to better serve patients, which is an extra 17,000 dollars EMS needs.
Marek said since the two nearest hospitals are 17 miles and 24 miles away, they need all of the resources they can get.
“A lot of our residents not only in the community of West, but the rural areas with Ross, Leroy, and the ones who live in the country rely on us,” said Marek.
EMS said it needs about $17,000 to fully equip the new truck.
If you would like to help, you can drop off donations at West EMS facility off Meadow Drive.
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