A $25,000 grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation will help put ventilators in all five vehicles of Washington County Ambulance Services.
Ambulance Director Jeremy Peck says only two of their five ambulances had ventilators previously and the grant is very beneficial to allow them to outfit all of the ambulances. He says now if they have a third, fourth or fifth call, they won’t worry about not having a ventilator available. Peck says the extra ventilators are a relief as they’ve seen an increased call volume of intubated patients due to the coronavirus this year.
Peck says the WCRF grant sped up the process of purchasing the three ventilators “tenfold” and they would have had to purchase one a year themselves without the additional funding. With this grant, Peck says the ambulance service will now spend less than $5,000 out of its own pocket for the units.
WCRF, the nonprofit affiliate and gaming license holder for the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort, awarded over $244,000 in relief grants this year, with several going to help non-profit organizations suffering lost revenue due to COVID-19.