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Marquette Township purchases Richmond Township ambulance

MARQUETTE — Richmond Township’s loss is Marquette Township’s gain.

The Marquette Township Board voted unanimously to approve a $25,000 purchase of a 2000 Wheel Coach ambulance from Richmond Township. The vehicle will serve as the township’s main ambulance and the current ambulance will become a back-up for call overflow.

“As of March 31, Richmond Township will be terminating their ambulance service due to inability to staff with qualified responders. That creates an opportunity to acquire the ambulance as our second,” Marquette Township Manager Randy Girard told the board.

Girard said he had been negotiating with Richmond Township Supervisor Scott Mills to purchase the vehicle before it was put out on bids, and the Richmond Township Board had approved selling the ambulance during a recent meeting.

Mills confirmed by phone on Wednesday that ambulance service in Palmer had been discontinued due to a lack of qualified volunteers to man the service and reduced tax revenue from the Empire Mine which was indefinitely idled in August of 2016.

“Young people don’t seem to be volunteering as much as they used to. And we are down to two EMTs left on our service and you just can’t operate an ambulance with two EMTs when they both work full time. So that had a lot to do with it. We have been pushing for people for the past two years but we just haven’t gotten the answer to that call that we needed,” Mills said. “The second reason being budget cuts. With the Empire Mine not running, our budget has been cut in half. So we have to look at any dollar we can save.”

He said EMS calls going forward will be answered by UP Health System – Marquette or UPHS-Bell in Ishpeming. Both facilities have been notified of the change.

UPHS ambulances were being dispatched for incidents requiring advanced life-saving care during transport prior to the Richmond Township Ambulance service closing its doors, Mills said.

“As far as like, chest pains, head injuries ….There’s like nine different calls that automatically dispatch ALS, and I would say during the last six months we have only been able to meet half of our runs,” he said. “The other half, Bell and Marquette have had to pick up. The customers here in Richmond Township will not see a difference in their ambulance service other than it may take a couple minutes longer, but it’s going to be a smooth transition.”

Girard told other Marquette Township officials that the vehicle is in “excellent” condition with less than 40,000 miles and “complete maintenance records”

Girard said prior to making the offer to Mills, he and Marquette Township Fire Chief Dan Shanahan had researched about 20 other used ambulances around the U.S. and found prices that ranged between $18,000 and $22,000 for a “bare ambulance.”

“The big thing is, it’s local, it’s right here. It’s a 2000 model, but it’s only got 38,000 miles on it, so it’s very low miles. It’s built on an F-350 chassis which is a heavy-duty chassis. It is four-wheel drive. It does have a cable winch mounted to the front and it is fully equipped where it sits. It’s got all the radio equipment, it’s got all the monitoring equipment, it already has a gurney. We looked up the gurney and that gurney itself used is a $10,000 item for a used one. Als,o it has an external lift along with it and all of their medical supplies,” Girard said. “The stocked medical supplies are a bonus as we can’t currently get them on the open market. Chief Shanahan and I believe this is an extremely beneficial opportunity to acquire a high quality and fully equipped second ambulance that could serve our needs and into the future.”

The funds to purchase the vehicle will come from the Marquette Township equipment millage, Girard said. Board members will consider a budget amendment during the Tuesday board meeting.

Township officials will take possession of the ambulance in the next several days, but officials say several steps are necessary before the vehicle is operational including reprogramming the onboard radios and computer and state licensure.

Mills, for his part, expressed regret, but said he was glad the vehicle was staying local.

“I hate to see this happen. I hate to see us have to close down after all these years,” he said. “A lot of people put a lot of effort into getting it going in the beginning. But unfortunately, we just don’t have the volunteers and that’s not just here, it’s everywhere. We held out as long as we could but just, through attrition and through budget cuts, we just don’t have any choice.”

Lisa Bowers can be reached at lbowers@miningjournal.net.

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