By Katie Strachan
The Oshawa Express

They have offered their help to the region’s health department during a number of situations like the SARS outbreak, the propane explosion in Bowmanville and during a number of community evacuations.

Now they’re asking for the region’s assistance.
Members of the Ontario Volunteer Emergency Response Team (OVERT) wrote the region’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) asking for a donation of one decommissioned ambulance.
“They were quite helpful in terms of delivering supplies during SARS,” says Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Kyle of OVERT.
“We get two or three requests for decommissioned ambulances and it’s usually spaced out between two or three years.”

In the past the region has donated its decommissioned ambulances to St. Johns Ambulance, another volunteer organization, the report prepared for the health committee shows.
OVERT is a not-for-profit organization that provides an average of 120,000 person hours per year on training events, community events coverage and operational call outs to the region every year.
According to OVERT’s letter from president D.S. Rowland, OVERT plans to use the ambulance to transport its 24-foot trailer, which is its main command post, to events. The letter shows the organization has had problems transporting it and often has to rely on a tow company to move it.

But Councillor Robert Lutczyk says he has a problem with the ambulance being used to pull a trailer.
“I have a bit of a concern to donate an ambulance as a trailer,” he says.
But Dr. Kyle says OVERT also has plans to use it for first aid means too.
“It is also stated (in the letter) that it will be used as a comfortable place for victims...I don’t see this as a strain on us to provide decommissioned ambulances to other agencies,” he explains.

“We replace seven (ambulances) a year.”
Decommissioned ambulances have an estimated trade-in value of about $12,500, says the report.
Rowland writes in his letter the vehicle may be used as a triage site in major disaster events too.

The health committee approved the recommendation to donate the ambulance to OVERT. The donation will take place in the fall after Durham Region EMS identifies the appropriate ambulance to meet OVERT’s needs, the report outlines.