JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Jamestown Area Ambulance continues to provide care locally, but have extended their reach into Florida to assist response to hurricane Dorian.
“As a Network provider under American Medical Response’s contract with FEMA, Jamestown Area Ambulance has sent four crew members along with six other Ringdahl Ambulance employees to Florida,” Operations Manager Andrew Berkey stated.
“Ringdahl Ambulance houses five ambulances in GA to be made available as a strike team when needs for resources arise in our southern states. A strike team consists of ten crew members and five ambulances along with support staff.”
Berkey says crews that have left for Florida are trained for a variety of different scenarios that they may see while on call.
“Some of the crew functions may include patient triage, treatment and transport as well as on-scene medical stand-by. They may also participate in transport and redistribution of patients to free-up receiving hospital bed space or other patient care related duties as local government may need. The crews are working under the guidance of FEMA, state and local EMS agencies to provide emergency and non-emergency patient services for those affected by hurricane Dorian.”
While there’s no certain time period crews will be in Florida, Berkey says they remain at the ready for any change and shift.
“Deployed crews are currently on a fourteen day activation, but that can change as the situation changes,” Berkey explained. “The crews will stay in the area as long as needed, per the AMR and FEMA agreement. We want to assure everyone this national response to help our fellow citizens in no way affects our ability to provide coverage in our local community.”
Hurricane Dorian struck Grand Bahama as a Category 5 on Sunday night with winds of around 185 mph. The storm is continuing to move northward up the coast of Florida. It’s estimated the storm could be the second-most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean according to the National Weather Service.