Back Row: Rick Watkins, Leah Watkins, Paul Bates, Renee Heidy, Sam Bates, Jim Hinton, Todd Lake, Kyrsten Smith; Middle Row: Jim Heidy, Cindy Hinton, DaiLene Wilson; Front Row: Jonathan Bates, Mike Takagi, Shannon Coppock, Dana Selby; Not pictured: Marie Conboy, Eilene Flory, Amanda Hendricks, Darryl Houghtelling, M'Lis Jamieson, Kevin Potter, Kiara Takagi.
South Gilliam County Ambulance has staffed and operated two ambulances for over 25 years. There are multiple times each fiscal year where two or more calls occur within hours of each other requiring the response of a second ambulance to provide the necessary care for patients living in, visiting, and traveling through our service area. The second ambulance also allows us to respond to mutual aid requests from our neighboring agencies while still covering our service area.
The ambulance service sets aside money each year in its budget to be transferred into an ambulance replacement fund with the goal of purchasing a new vehicle every 10 years. The newest ambulance has typically been the first ambulance responding on the majority of calls while the older ambulance responds as a second and on mutual aid calls. The South Gilliam County Ambulance most recently purchased a new ambulance in 2018. Unfortunately, the ambulance purchased in 2008 (and due to be replaced in 2028) experienced some significant mechanical issues putting our patients' safety in jeopardy and continuing to be a drain on the service's vehicle maintenance budget. The decision was made to try and bring forward the date on the purchase of the next ambulance.
In 2021, the ambulance service applied to Gilliam County for a Capital Projects grant to help with the purchase of the new ambulance. Once approved the ambulance service moved forward with ordering the ambulance. Due to supply chain issues, it took two and a half years before the ambulance was delivered.
South Gilliam County Ambulance Service was pleased to put the new 2023 ambulance in service at the end of October of last year. The 2023 and 2018 ambulances are nearly identical as far as the boxes are concerned, with only minor differences in the cab. We are currently rotating the two ambulances every other call to help reduce wear and mileage on each ambulance over its lifetime of service.
Many thanks go to Gilliam County for awarding the grant to purchase the new ambulance. Without the grant, it would have been at least another 5 years before a replacement could have been purchased.
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