U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff visited Macon to announce federal funding will help bring four new state-of-the-art ambulances to Central Georgia counties.
MACON, Ga. — More mobile medicine will roll into Central Georgia soon. Healthcare workers at Atrium Health Navient call it an “E.R. on wheels.”
Thanks to federal funding, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said more vehicles will help EMTs help more people.
“There is little more important than this,” Ossoff said.
Atrium Health Navient will receive four new vehicles from a funding package Congress passed in March.
Ossoff visited Macon to get a glimpse of what will be provided. He said just under $600,000 is going toward getting better equipment for EMT’s.
“These EMT’s have the best equipment to provide the best care and also to look after themselves to reduce their risk of injuries on the job,” Ossoff said.
The ambulances are equipped with hydraulics to reduce manual labor and protect the patient and paramedics.
Paramedic Jeannie Middlebrooks says it is going to make EMTs’ jobs easier.
“It does no longer require two people to load the patient in and out of the truck and it’s much safer on our backs. Back and shoulder injuries are like the number one common injury among paramedics and it is a career-ending injury usually when it does happen,” Middlebrooks said.
Middlebrooks says she’s most excited about the LUCAS machine. It performs CPR on a patient.
“It doesn’t get tired. It gives the paramedics and the EMTs one less thing to worry about because that’s continually performing high-quality compressions the entire time we have it on a patient,” Middlebrooks said.
The federal money will buy four new emergency medical vehicles. They will serve Macon-Bibb, Twiggs, Jones, Baldwin and Treutlen Counties.
Middlebrooks said they have five of these vehicles now, have five more being built and the grant will also bring four vehicles.
“Macon-Bibb County’s volume is growing so much so the fact that we’re able to have these ambulances to respond the more increased volume of calls is super helpful for the residents,” Middlebrooks said.
These ambulances are smaller than the common model, but Middlebrooks said bigger isn’t always better.
“Lot more safer for the general public when we are responding to an emergency because these ambulances are a lot smaller and lighter. They’re able to stop quicker. They’re able to make evasive maneuvers when we need to,” Middlebrooks said.
Atrium currently has 27 ambulances in their fleet, but plan to eventually replace all of them with the new state-of-the-art vehicles.
