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HARRISON, N.Y. Harrison EMS has received a total of $18,620 in donations from two Westchester County organizations, which allowed it to purchase potential life-saving equipment, said Chief Joseph Bilotto.
That these places thought of EMS when wanting to donate and help the community, is what Bilotto said was the best part. Normally we are only thought of when you need us and most money goes to the fire service and police department.
TWIG of Westchester raised $17,000 for Harrison EMS through a holiday fair and other fund-raisers. The donation allowed Bilotto to purchase much needed medical equipment, he said. With the money, the organization bought four Rad 57 Pulse CO-Oximeters, which allow paramedics to check the carbon monoxide levels in the house and in firefighters and others on the scene during an emergency in which CO poisoning might be possible.
I was very relieved that this donation will afford us the opportunity to get a state of the art piece of equipment to help not only firefighters, but the community as well and give us some safety equipment for staff, said Bilotto.
The safety equipment that Bilotto speaks of came through a $1,620 donation from York International Agency, LLC, which is an insurance agency in Harrison. After a bake sale in May, the company matched what was raised and gave it to the EMS. Bilotto said that the money went towards buying state of the art digital thermometers, which are also used in the emergency room. They also bought blood-borne pathogen safety gloves for their crew to wear at motor vehicle accidents and other incidents, added Bilotto.
With Harrison EMS operating under the same budget since 2007, it has been unable to purchase the newest state of the art equipment and diagnostic tools to better assess patients. However, that changed with the two donations, which Bilotto said was great.
It is hard to not have the ability to purchase simple things, give staff raises and the bigger items are usually unthought-of, said Bilotto. We have a wish list of things we need to better allow us to do our jobs and save lives, but with no additional funding from the town we are barely scrapping by. Its great that these organizations thought of us in our time of need.
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