Ambulance service receives funds for new equipment

The Union County Ambulance Service has been awarded $1,625 from the Illinois EMS Assistance Fund for the purchase of a new stair chair with tracks for the service.

Application for the funds was made by ambulance service director Grant Capel in September 2015 and funding was completed for the purchase and issued to Union County in August.

Union County Ambulance Service has received the new equipment and it will be added to the new generation of patient removal devices that have been part of an ongoing safety campaign for more technologically advanced equipment to aid in the safe removal of patients from the home, Capel explained in a news release.

The design of this particular type of equipment relieves the burden of lifting from the responder and allows for a controlled decent on stairways within the home.

This, coupled with a new generation of power cots, helps to reduce the risk of injury to the responder and provides a safer and more secure positioning for the patient in a time of need, the ambulance service director explained.

Since 2013, the Union County Ambulance Service has been the recipient of numerous funding grants and project awards to help update equipment and provide more advanced levels of service to the citizens of Union County.

These projects have been in conjunction with the Union County Board of Commissioners and represent a continued effort to offer the most up to date and advanced level of emergency medical services to the citizens and visitors of Union County, Capel noted.