Need groceries? Consider stopping at Gary’s Foods in Mount Vernon to meet your grocery needs while supporting your local ambulance service. For the month of September, Gary’s Foods will be asking customers to “round up” to the next dollar as a fundraiser for the Lisbon-Mount Vernon Ambulance Service. This year’s project is to replace our portable radios, which are over 10 years old. The current radios, carried by our responders while on call, are no longer serviceable and contain outdated software. This can negatively impact our ability to communicate with mutual aid departments as well as the hospitals we transport to.

On top of being significantly smaller, new radios will also have the ability to transmit on encrypted channels, which have recently been implemented at area hospitals. These channels protect patient information when notifying hospitals of incoming patients, allowing staff to prepare for critical arrivals. They also improve communication with mutual aid partners who may respond to assist LMVAS during large-scale incidents.

LMVAS needs to replace ten radios at an approximate cost of $5,500 per unit. However, obtaining fifteen new radios would place LMVAS in a much stronger position to ensure reliable communication among crew members during spread-out scenes, such as responses at Palisades State Park, Cornell College, or other school buildings. Although this $55,000 project may seem daunting, thanks to the Union Pacific Foundation’s Community Ties Grant program, $10,000 has already been allocated to the project.

If you would like to support our Essential Communications project, you can help in the following ways:

• Shop and Round Up at Gary’s Foods

• Visit www.lmvas.org/donate to donate online

• Mail donations to:

Lisbon-Mt. Vernon Ambulance Service

730 First Street SE

Mount Vernon, IA 52314