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AMED is chasing ambulances -- new ones, that is.
The ambulance authority's board this week gave permission for Executive Director Gary Watters to order two new ambulances because the company is low on emergency vehicles and the ongoing supply chain issues mean the waiting period for delivery is as long as 10 months.
The board also gave Watters permission to buy a "remount" ambulance -- which shouldn't take as long to receive.
The approvals are necessary because AMED had to borrow an emergency vehicle last Friday from Duncansville, when there were three football games to staff, Watters said.
The two new ambulances are expected to cost a total of $205,000.
The remount -- a reconditioned treatment compartment installed on a new chassis -- could cost up to $135,000.
The organization has been buying new Mercedes ambulances for a few years, and they've been satisfactory, except for the emissions systems, which have been troublesome, Watters said earlier this year.
The organization has been removing those systems when the ambulance warranties expire, which is legal, because of emissions exemptions for ambulances and fire trucks, Watters said then.
Ordering the ambulances now will lock in the price, Watters said, in answer to a question from board member Brad Kissell.
Payment is due on delivery of the vehicles, Watters said.
Watters isn't enthusiastic about buying a remount, because its chassis would feature a V-10 gasoline engine that would get only 6 miles per gallon, Watters said.
That's "horrible mileage," he said.
"(But) we're at a point now where we don't know what else to do," Watters said.
Remounts, nevertheless, have about the same lifespan as new ambulances, he said, noting the treatment compartments can be remounted two or three times.
Manufacturers can deliver remounts fairly quickly, if they can get the chassis to work on, because their plants lack enough other work, Watters said.
The remount could be either a vehicle that is fully new to AMED or one that is constructed with a box that AMED already owns, officials said.
A used ambulance would be an alternative to the remount, but they're "a struggle" to obtain now, Watters said.
He and a co-worker recently tried to get a used one at auction and "it did not go well," Watters told the board.
AMED is short of ambulances because it didn't buy any last year, during the initial run of COVID-19, and it has bought only two this year, according to Watters.
Normally, the organization cycles through three per year, Watters said.
"We've been Band-Aiding some to get through," he said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-7038.