UMH Partners with Uvalde EMS

Uvalde Memorial Hospital has partnered with Uvalde Emergency Medical Services Inc. (Uvalde EMS) this year for the purchase of two new ambulances. The hospital gave Uvalde EMS $120,000 towards their purchase of the new units. Both vehicles have arrived and are in use by the Uvalde EMS fleet as of June.

Stephen Stephens, director of Uvalde EMS, oversaw the selection and purchase of the vehicles.

“Each ambulance in our fleet now contains the most up to date equipment with a cost of roughly $110,000 per ambulance,” Stephens explained.

That cost excludes equipment as it is removed from the units being replaced and moved into the new ambulances.

“One of the ambulances is an entirely new unit and one was remounted on a new chassis. During this process, the ambulance modular portion was completely refurbished. By utilizing this method, a cost savings of $72,000 was realized over the purchase of a brand new ambulance,” Stephens said.

Both ambulances have upgraded safety features for crew and patients. Crew features include five-point safety harnesses that allow patient care to remain the focus while providing complete security to the EMS personnel. For the patients, new $4,500 crash-tested stretcher mounts that secure the stretcher to the ambulance body provide additional safety for the patient.

Both units also provide better fuel economy. Fuel cost will be decreased with the use of the new vehicles as they operate on more efficient platforms, especially one of the units.

“The Type 2 van ambulance will be used primarily for inter-facility transfers into San Antonio because it is now the most fuel-efficient vehicle in our fleet,” Stephens said.

He went on to say that the Type 2 vehicle will also be utilized for 911 responses when needed, as it is equipped identically to the other ambulances in the fleet.

Currently, Uvalde EMS has five response ready ambulances in their fleet.