Dougherty Co. Commission approves purchase of new ambulances for Dougherty Co. EMS

ALBANY, Ga. — At Monday morning’s meeting, the Dougherty County Commission approved the purchase of new ambulances for Dougherty County EMS. Something that Director Sam Allen has been in the works for nearly three years.

Allen says that prior to supply chain issues caused by COVID-19, Dougherty County EMS would regularly purchase new ambulances year after year.

But, the last ambulance purchase came in 2021.

“These trucks get a lot of use. And, it’s not abuse. It is just normal wear and tear. With the supply chain problems, we’ve not been for the last three years. We should have already gotten six new trucks. But, because of COVID supply chains, we were not able to get those trucks,” said Sam Allen, Director, Dougherty County EMS.

According to Allen the typical lifespan of an ambulance is around six to seven years.

Thanks to COVID, some ambulances are closer to nine years in service…

And, naturally have needed more maintenance throughout the years.

“We run over 24,000 calls, so we have average over 230,000 miles a year that our trucks put on in mileage. And, when you compile that and you break it down, these trucks get a lot of use,” said Allen.

As Allen told us, it’s a problem that’s affecting EMS groups across the country.

And, while it hasn’t severely impacted first response in the midst of transport, they’ve had some close calls.

“We’ve had situations where we’ve had a truck that broke down. It went into engine and mechanical issues. Within 30 seconds, we had another ambulance to rendezvous with that ambulance, transfer the patient over. Took about 10 seconds to transfer them over and continue on to the hospital…” said Allen.

And, in a situation where every second counts, EMS can’t have these mechanical problems.

“So, we’ve not experienced where we have not been able to do our job. But, it has stressed us to the point where sometime it makes it difficult to insure that we can be 100 percent all of the time,” said Allen.

While the new ambulances wont hit the streets until the summer of 2025, older ambulances like the one behind me after years of transporting those in the community will be taken out of service and a largely new fleet will be out on the road.

Allen says that the time to have the new ambulances built takes around six months.

Brian Roche reporting.

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