Cache County EMTs get new wheels
The Cache County EMS Authority will be upgrading two of its eight front-line ambulances this coming week.
Jay Downs, the authority’s area service director, said the purchase of new ambulances comes as a result of the success of the recently implemented capital improvement program. The program sets aside funds each year for the maintenance and replacement of big-ticket items like ambulances and cardiac monitors.
According to Downs, the total amount set aside each year depends on the budget, but the agency tries to allocate at least $90,000 per year.
The ambulances, which were sold by Rocky Mountain Ambulance, cost $204,000 per vehicle. They will be replacing rear-wheel drive rigs that were purchased in 2002 and 2003 with four-wheel drive vehicles at Station 72 and Station 70 in Logan.
The new ambulances will be equipped with several upgrades. For instance, each vehicle comes with a cot-fastening system called Stat Trac, a technology which keeps the cot and the patient securely fastened to the floor.
“In the past, if ambulances were to roll the cots wouldn’t stay in in place with the patient,” said Logan City assistant fire chief Craig Humphreys.
Logan EMT and firefighter Pete Nielson said getting newer, safer equipment is always a welcome change.
“Everyone is excited to get them,” Nielson said about the vehicles. “It’s better for us and its better for patients. New rigs have suspension systems that run smoother and that adds more comfort for the patients and for us.”
Station 72 is already preparing to switch over equipment from its soon-to-replaced rig.
According to Bryan Davies, a Logan EMT, the vehicle, which is often used to transfer patients from Logan facilities to medical centers in Salt Lake City and beyond, has driven close to a quarter-million miles – nearly the distance of a one-way trip to the moon.
“New rigs feel good,” said Brady Hansen, a Logan City battalion chief. “The real motive behind it all is that in this equipment a life hangs in the balance — and that’s not to be exaggerated at all.”
Hansen said the two things that factor into replacement of vehicles is the cost of maintenance and the amount of time a vehicle spends out of service.
“A vehicle could cost pennies to maintain, but if it’s out of service it cripples our fleet,” Hansen said.
Station 120 in North Logan will be receiving one of the vehicles the new rigs are replacing.
The Cache County EMS Authority is replacing the rigs in two of its busiest stations and will send the vehicles being replaced to other stations in the system that are less busy. Any ambulances that aren’t needed in the system will be first given to stations around the county or sold as surplus.
The vehicles are slated to service the county for eight years.