COMMERCIAL POINT, Ohio — A $32,125 grant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation will help the Scioto Township Fire Department retire an ambulance cot that is nearly a decade old, the department said.
The department announced in a social media post that it learned late last week that its grant application had been approved. The money will go toward a new power cot and patient-loading system, covering nearly half of the equipment’s total cost, with the department paying the remainder.
The cot the department uses now is approaching 10 years in service.
“These cots are vital to transferring our residents safely and smoothly to the hospital when an emergency occurs,” the department said in the post.
Power cots and loading systems use electric or hydraulic lifts to raise, lower and roll patients into ambulances, sparing crews the heaviest manual lifting on a call. Fire and EMS agencies across Ohio have adopted the devices in recent years as a way to reduce back and shoulder injuries among paramedics and firefighters.
The grant comes through the workers’ compensation bureau’s Safety Intervention Grant program, which provides matching funds to Ohio employers — including township fire departments — for equipment that lowers the risk of on-the-job injuries. The program can award up to $40,000 to an employer within a three-year eligibility cycle, according to the bureau.
