Bridgeport explores new ambulance option

BRIDGEPORT – Douglas County Undersheriff Tyler Caille kept the appointment he made with city clerk/treasurer Judy Brown to bring a new Douglas County ambulance to the Dec. 18 city council meeting. That offered council members a first-hand comparison between the ambulance box the city wants to get refurbished and a new model with the latest impressive technological additions.

The council discussed the need for an ambulance upgrade at its November meeting, which prompted Brown to reach out to Caille to bring both the ambulance and his advice on how to proceed with a purchase or upgrade. 

The city’s current ambulance chassis is holding up, but the nearly two-decade-old box is long overdue for replacement with a newer version that features all the advances in EMS advances.

Mayor Sergio Orozco said the city is researching two options, purchasing a new ambulance through a grant, or finding the funding to retrofit the existing box to bring it up to current standards.

Orozco said upgrading the existing box alone costs $250,000 or more because the box needs to be sent off for six to eight months for retrofitting.

While taking on debt to upgrade or purchase an ambulance, Caille pointed out the big advantage of both options.

“An ambulance is the one thing that at least is revenue-generating,” said Caille. “EMS is the one thing regardless of demographics or your community where funds come back in to supplement your EMS services.”

Caille was a good choice because Douglas County Fire District 5 has both a refurbished box on the original ambulance it purchased in 2004 as well as a new one purchased recently. 

“What I always look at is what can we do to make it easier on our volunteers,” said Caille. “We rely on volunteers to make those calls for service when we call 911.”

Caille explained a couple of the more impressive new features that come with a modern ambulance. One is the constant struggle - especially during COVID - to keep everything clean and disinfected after each patient contact.

“Now when we park, we actually have a button we push that drops a UV (ultraviolet) light down from the roof and it auto-disinfects via UV for 20 minutes,” said Caille. “Everything that light touches it disinfects.”

Another advance is an easy load feature that eliminates the challenge of getting a patient into the vehicle.

“There are now devices in the back of the ambulance where the stretcher is powered so you are not physically lifting like we used to,” said Caille. “Once you get to the back of the ambulance it loads the stretcher and up to a 700-pound patient for you.”

Council members gathered outside the conference room to see how the powered stretcher operates and review other features that are now available. 

Due to the expense involved with the purchase of a new or refurbished ambulance, Caille recommended a creative approach to securing the needed funding.

“This one was a 100 percent purchase with ARPA (America Rescue Plan Act) funds between Douglas County and the Town of Mansfield,” said Caille of the model brought to the council meeting. “Our refurbished one was with 60 percent ARPA funding and 40 percent loan that we took internally through the fire district.”

Brown earlier advised the council that she had discovered an outlet for a federal grant application for purchasing an EMS ambulance.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media