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Lyon County OKs Rescue Plan funding for North Ambulance equipment

MARSHALL — North Memorial Ambulance in Marshall will join the list of area emergency responders receiving American Rescue Plan Act funding from Lyon County.

On Tuesday, County commissioners approved up to $65,000 in funding for the ambulance service to purchase new medical equipment.

Dane Meyer, supervisor of North Memorial Ambulance in Marshall, said the ambulance service wanted to replace its ventilator and chest compression equipment.

Previously, commissioners had made up to $65,000 in ARPA funding available for each of the ambulance services in Lyon County, said county administrator Loren Stomberg.

Meyer said the Marshall ambulance service currently has four LUCAS devices, which are used to give chest compressions when performing CPR. However, the devices were purchased in 2014, and North Ambulance would like to upgrade them, Meyer said.

“They’re nearing the end of their lifespan with us,” he said.

Meyer said the cost to replace the four LUCAS devices came to about $60,000. North Memorial Ambulance would also like to upgrade a ventilator, which would carry an additional cost of $27,500.

North Memorial contracts with the city of Marshall to provide ambulance services. So if the ambulance service provider in Marshall ever changes, the equipment purchased with the county ARPA money would stay in Marshall, Meyer said.

Commissioner Rick Anderson moved to approve up to $65,000 for North Memorial Ambulance, but he noted that the funding wouldn’t cover the whole cost of the equipment request. The ambulance service may need to approach the city of Marshall for additional assistance, he said.

Commissioners voted to approve the funding.

Earlier this year, the county approved similar amounts of funding to emergency responders like the Tracy Ambulance and Cottonwood Ambulance services. Both ambulance services had approached the county for help purchasing equipment including chest compression devices and vital sign monitors.

In May, the county also set aside a total of $1.9 million in ARPA funding for 11 cities in Lyon County. Requests the county has granted so far have included funding for water and sewer updates in the city of Russell, updates to the water meter system in the city of Garvin, and updates to the sewer lift stations in Minneota and Lynd. Commissioners also approved funding for a new county-wide radio paging system for emergency responders.

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