Vancouver Firefighter Drives Donated Ambulance to First Responders in Nicaragua

VANCOUVER, Canada (CTV Vancouver) - A firefighter from Metro Vancouver will soon embark on a road trip to Nicaragua to deliver a decommissioned ambulance to first responders, a journey he hopes will spark a wider conversation about giving new life to used emergency equipment.  In about three weeks, Erik Vogel and his wife plan to hop into the donated ambulance, which is loaded with everything from scalpels to stretchers, and head for Central America. "It's something we've always wanted to do. It's a bucket list item," Vogel said. The couple is part of an ongoing campaign called Operation Nicaragua, which started in Kamloops and has been sending surplus and second-hand equipment south for years. Vogel said the vehicles are desperately needed by emergency crews in Nicaragua and work perfectly well, despite having reached the regulated age limit for use at home. "We should be sending so much more. There should literally be containers of this stuff going down there instead of the landfills," he said. Read more...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: News Videos Operations Source Type: news