Three minutes into the Ansonia Rescue Medical Services Commission’s monthly meeting Monday, Horace Behrle rose from the back of the room to make an announcement.
“I have a check here for $10,000,” Behrle, the treasurer of the Ansonia Rod and Gun Club, said.
He and club president Warren Connors were at Monday’s meeting to donate money toward ARMS buying a Polaris Ranger, a six-wheeled “utility terrain vehicle.”
The vehicle costs a total of about $18,000, said ARMS Chief Jared Heon, and would be an invaluable addition.
Ambulances can’t always get to where people need urgent medical attention — as was proven all over the Valley during last year’s blizzard.
Heon said the vehicle would be used on calls to those places, like the Riverwalk, or the Ansonia Nature Center, or sports fields with irrigation systems an ambulance would damage because of its weight, to name a few examples.
The vehicle’s six wheels would provide patients with a stable ride through rough terrain, Heon said, describing one of its benefits.
“And with this you can fully immobilize someone so if they have a back injury or something, we can take them out right on the backboard and transfer them right into the ambulance,” he said.
The vehicle also shines in the most adverse weather conditions.
Heon said ARMS called in the Derby Storm Ambulance Corps Polaris Ranger during the height of the blizzard for help getting to a patient.
“We literally couldn’t get there with our vehicles because the snow was too high,” Heon said. “An all-terrain vehicle like this, you can get right in there.”
ARMS has been seeking donations to buy the vehicle, Scott Nihill, the chairman of the commission said. The city last year received a grant to buy a $4,000 stretcher for it.
As part of the fundraising effort, Heon sent a letter to Behrle asking if the club could kick in toward the purchase of the UTV.
He didn’t expect their generosity would amount to $10,000.
“It’s just a tremendous thing,” Heon said. “We’re completely blown away by this.”
“This will go worlds towards purchasing that vehicle,” Nihill said.
Heon said the group would continue fundraising for the $8,000 left to buy the vehicle.
Behrle and Connors said if those efforts come up short, they’d bring the issue to their members again.
“Let us know, maybe we can work something out,” Behrle said.
Click the play button on the video above to watch.
Mayor James Della Volpe also rose to salute the club’s members and read a certificate thanking them.
“This is unbelievable,” he said.
Heon said after the presentation Monday that Rod and Gun Club has also been generous in the past — about three years ago it ought a hydraulic stretcher ARMS uses every day, he said.
Connors said the money donated Monday would have been used for the club to improve its grounds, but members decided instead to make the donation.
“I understand firsthand what the benefit of that type of vehicle is,” said Connors, a Woodbridge public works employee who saw a similar vehicle in action during February’s epic blizzard.
“Whether you have a hurricane, whether you have floods, whether you have things where some vehicles can be inaccessible, this can bring medical needs to any household,” Connors said.