LIMA — St. Rita’s Medical Center has donated $125,000 to fire and emergency medical service agencies in three northwest Ohio counties as part of its Community Investment Fund.
The funds, which were distributed Tuesday at an awards luncheon, will assist these agencies with the cost of replacing or upgrading heart-related EMS equipment. This equipment ranges from heart monitors and modems to automated external defibrillators and CPR devices.
“The departments applied based on their need and then were awarded on what they applied for,” said Brian Anderson, EMS coordinator at St. Rita’s.
A total of 12 agencies received funding, including the Lima Fire Department, Apollo Career Center, Putnam County EMS and Cridersville Fire and Rescue. Fire departments from Wapakoneta, Bath, Shawnee, American Township, Fort Jennings, Uniopolis, Beaverdam and Perry also benefited from the donation.
“It’s a real pleasure that we were able to give some grant dollars to EMS to help them upgrade their equipment,” said Mary Marker, administrator of St. Rita’s Heart and Vascular Center.
Marker said St. Rita’s started the Community Investment Fund in 2005.
“Many of the heart monitors and things we helped the squads get back then need an upgrade,” she said, “so we’re very fortunate to help them buy this equipment.”
Marker said upgrading cardiac-related equipment is vital in ensuring patients with heart problems are given the care they need in the shortest time possible.
“They need to have the equipment when they pick up the patient in order to help us do what we do here to get these patients taken care of in the correct amount of time,” she said. “It gives our cardiologists and doctors more time to be able to work on the patient.”
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