By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
The Carter County Ambulance Board held a special meeting on March 6 to discuss and vote on the purchase of a new ambulance chassis. The county has one new ambulance currently in service (see EAS adds new ambulance to fleet in this edition), but the balance of their emergency fleet is in need of serious repairs. Recently the county has experienced instances where an ambulance has broken down enroute, and has been forced to call another ambulance service to complete the delivery of patients to receive care. That is something Director Tim Woods says needs to be avoided at all costs.
“We’ve had several instances where crews have broken down on I-64,” Woods said. “The crew had to call another ambulance and change the patient out on 64 – which is dangerous. So, we need a truck. We do have the new one, but we need another truck.”
Originally the county was looking to take four older units out of service, he said,
The truck in question is actually a chassis out of North Carolina, Woods told the board. The chassis is a 2024 model Dodge Ram 4500. This new chassis, which comes complete with cab, will be used as the base for the box – the compartment that serves to transport the patient as well as necessary equipment – from the current Med 4 in service.
“We are going to take 4 down to North Carolina, and the company is going to strip that box,” Woods told the board.
The box will then be refurbished and repainted, and have any electrical issues fixed, essentially becoming a new unit. Woods said that it will be a new truck for all intents and purposes.
The remount/refit of the new truck is expected to cost $192,306.25. The reason for the special meeting is availability, Woods said.
“The urgency of this is that everywhere you call to find a chassis is 15 to 24 months away from getting you an ambulance in house.” Woods explained.
But the company in question has assured Woods that they are able to do a 180 day turnaround, and has been holding a chassis for Carter County for around two weeks.
“If we don’t take advantage of this right now, we go back to square one,” he said. “And we will be waiting on someone to find us a chassis.”
Woods said that based on figures shared with him from Greenup County, purchasing a new truck would cost in excess of $230,000. But by refurbishing the box, which in his opinion is solid and superior to what is currently available off the factory assembly line with all new hardware, the ambulance service saves nearly $40,000 and will have an overall better ambulance. Many newer model boxes are a combination of plywood and fiberglass, he explained to the board, whereas the existing box from Med 4 is solid aluminum. The breakdown of financing option results in a payment of around $3,700 per month, with the option to double up on payments if the opportunity presents itself.
“I don’t like debt,” Woods said. “But unfortunately, you sometimes have to cross that bridge.”
The board voted unanimously to proceed with the purchase of the new chassis. Once delivered the new truck will join the 2023 Chevrolet truck the service was recently able to purchase with the help of a FEMA assistance to firefighters grant.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
