By Carolyn Reid
With an aging fleet that has to travel a large portion of Pendleton County’s 287 miles of roadways each year, the board and Director Jody Dunhoft started budgeting for a fourth truck after purchasing one from Crescent Springs a couple of years back.
A grant from R. C. Durr cut the wait time short as the foundation recently awarded PC Ambulance the full amount for a new ambulance.
Dunhoft said that was unexpected. “We thought we may get money to put toward the purchase of a new vehicle. The award was a miracle for our budget planning.”
New medical transport vehicles such as the service ordered with the grant cost nearly $300,000. The board has been building its savings toward a new vehicle. The bulk of the boxes, the patient area of the truck, of the fleet date back to before 2013. They are still usable for the patients, but the design at that time put the control panel for the things that are needed such as lights and patient-care features out of reach without the first responder standing to access the panel. New boxes have the panel within arm’s reach of the medical staff’s bench, a positive step in safety for those who respond to medical emergencies.
The control panel is of the new design in the truck they purchased from Crescent Springs. The box is a 2013.
The maintenance on the older vehicles has gone over budget recently due to the age and wear and tear, making the purchase wise. The R.C. Durr Foundation just helped with that cost by adding a new truck with its award of $271,450.
Dunhoft said they were left speechless with the news, especially since they had not had luck with other grants of late. The Durr Vehicle Grant Funding had a quick filing deadline, and Nate Gilbert of the crew helped her complete the application.
Dunhoft says all of the Northern Kentucky services are excited the county received the grant that will purchase a four-wheel drive, Medix-Box 2023F Ford 450 for their fleet. When she reached out, asking to thank the foundation trustees personally, she was told they were proud of the county’s crew.
The late R.C. Durr set up the foundation in 1993, and it was permanently endowed upon his death in 2007, according to their site. The foundation services Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Kenton, Mason, Owen, Pendleton, and Robertson counties. It focuses on funding educational, charitable, and civic organizations. He concentrates on the public good, according to the site, as he did in his life. Durr was married first to Katherine Ballinger, a Falmouth native, and she preceded him in death. He remarried and passed, leaving his second wife as a survivor.
The ambulance should be ready in August, according to Dunhoft.