Getting back to writing again

It is time to get back into the swing of doing Blogs again.  It is tough to just sit down and write.  It gives me an appreciation for the editorial journalists that do this for a living.

I have a couple of items to write about today – both related to fire equipment.

Earlier this spring/summer we ordered a new ambulance.  It was delivered today!

It doesn’t look too much different than the one the Department is using now.  That is intentional.  Having the two ambulances outfitted nearly the same will help the EMT’s find things quickly since the two units are manufactured by the same vendor – MedTech.

As I said above, it arrived today.  Within minutes, firefighters and EMT’s started arriving to look the “new beauty over.”  It was interesting to watch the folks touch the various cabinets and doors, check out new head-sets, and test out the horn and siren.  There was a sense of watching sailors bring a ship to life.  There was a display of reverence as they considered the work they would be doing together.

The new ambulance is coming to life.  Thursday night, the Fire Department staff will be putting things in their place, loading cabinets with the various tools and supplies that will help keep someone alive.

This new ambulance is the product of a number of a number of people.  What is remarkable is the time it took the Fire Department staff to prepare bid specifications.  Our policy is to have the Commission review them prior to bid approval.  The Commission has a chance to ask “why this?” for the various specifications before they approve letting us go out for bids.  We then send the specifications to a number of vendors who prepare a cost estimate for us.

Before the Commission awarded bids, several vendors brought their demonstrators to Concordia.  Commissioners came and viewed the ambulance demonstrator vehicles and crawled all over them with the EMT’s to get their views of what was good and what was better.  In the end, this conversation between the EMT’s and the Commissioners produced a level of confidence ending in a purchase decision for the vehicle delivered today.  Each group – the EMT’s and the Commission - had the confidence the best vehicle was being purchased for the community.

The EMT’s had a say in what the City purchased.  That reverence I saw today reflected pride in their role in the purchase decision.  They actually OWN the new ambulance.