Bourne Will Use ARPA Funds To Replace Ambulances
The Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners has approved a request from Bourne to delegate $750,276 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.
The request, submitted in July, was approved on Wednesday morning, August 10. Speaking with the Enterprise shortly after the request was approved, Town Administrator Marlene V. McCollem said the money will be used to replace two of the town’s ambulances that are high in mileage.
“We’ve got two newer ambulances that are around 60-70,000 miles,” she said. “And then we have two older ambulances that are approaching about 140,000 miles.”
Bourne’s ambulances have been getting more use than the town had anticipated, Ms. McCollem said, most of which can be directly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The volume of calls has been greater, she said, and with local hospitals nearly at capacity, there’s been a greater number of transports to other hospitals in both Rhode Island and other areas of Massachusetts.
“We obviously have a plan to replace ambulances on a regular schedule, but the pandemic really accelerated our schedule just because of the amount of use that they’re getting,” Ms. McCollem said.
Getting ahead of supply chain issues is key, she said, giving credit to Bourne Fire Chief David S. Cody for working proactively to secure the equipment the town will be replacing.
“All the credit here goes to Chief Cody,” she said. “The fire chief has really been very proactive in working with our dealers for the equipment and has been able to get the dealers to hold two trucks for Bourne as we worked through this process. We are very fortunate and very appreciative of Chief Cody’s efforts and the dealer’s willingness to work with us.”
Ms. McCollem said that Bourne does have two trucks with VIN numbers on reserve, earmarked for the town, that are under contract and ready to be built out for use.
“If we didn’t get these two,” she said, “it was going to be a long wait.”
The grant money helped the town secure two custom-built Lifeline “Superliner” Class I Emergency Medical Vehicles for Bourne. Ms. McCollem said she expects the town to have them in about eight months, sometime in the spring, which she noted is not long at all considering the lengthy wait times being imposed on the industry due to supply chain issues.
“To have these reserved and then be able to have the county money flow in so quickly and get them under contract and get them moving, it’s great news,” Ms. McCollem said. “We’re excited.”
Now that the town’s Ambulance Project is nearing completion, Ms. McCollem said that she expects to go to the selectmen soon to seek further direction and guidance on what the town’s priorities should be when it comes to ARPA funds.
“This one is pretty much wrapped up,” she said of the project. “It’s all done. Now we’re just going to wait for delivery.”