Community project funding/congressionally directed spending - construction - AAA ambulance service (AAA), a non-profit, quasi-governmental entity, owned by the city of hattiesburg, forrest county…

Community project funding/congressionally directed spending - construction - AAA ambulance service (AAA), a non-profit, quasi-governmental entity, owned by the city of hattiesburg, forrest county and forrest general hospital is the primary EMS 911 provider and only ambulance service operating in 7 southeastern counties in mississippi. AAA is also the lead EMS agency for the city of hattiesburg providing all emergency and non-emergency response and transport as well as 100 percent of the ground inter-facility transports for the forrest health system. These funds allow for AAA ambulance to update its fleet with new ambulance trucks, including installing lifts and chest compression equipment, and also retrofitting outdated ambulance trucks with same as the community relies on AAA ambulance to respond to emergencies and have the equipment to stabilize and safely transport patients to the hospital. AAA ambulance service maintains a fleet of 38 ambulances and operates 25 ambulances on a daily basis. Of these 38 ambulances, 17 are over 6 years old with mileages ranging from 350,000 to 600,000 miles. The standard life expectancy of an ambulance is 4-7 years or 150,000 to 250,000 miles. These units are plagued with frequent mechanical issues resulting in lost unit hours and increased maintenance costs. In addition, many of these units lack up-to-date patient safety equipment. Funding under this program would be used to purchase 12 new ambulances, as well as purchase 27 stryker lucas chest compression systems (for the new ambulances and to retrofit the existing fleet), 12 stryker power pro lifts to increase patient loading safety and reduce manual lifts of patients in order to be compliant with currently accepted industry standards. An updated fleet of vehicles, equipped to meet all federally mandated guidelines, will ensure patients needing ambulance service can be timely reached and safely transported without unnecessary delay due to mechanical failures, as well as better protect the safety of our first responders.