12/8/2017:
Nowadays, we often take for granted that if there’s an emergency, we can call an ambulance. That’s often thanks to a few hard-working people who made an effort to provide the service. In the not so recent past, the people of Lidgerwood, North Dakota came together to do just that.
It all started on August 8th, 1973, when townspeople held a meeting to form a new fire district. One purpose of the meeting was fundraising for an ambulance. They raised enough to purchase their first vehicle from “Shine” Walby’s funeral home. About a year later, in October of 1973, they purchased another ambulance from the Springfield Equipment company. However, there wasn’t a building to house the vehicles! In 1975, the Lidgerwood Rural Fire District held a meeting to talk about funding a building. They did get a building, but until then the ambulance remained tucked away in James Hrdlicka’s garage.
The Fire District owned the ambulance service for just over 30 years. However, on this date in 2004, the Fire Department met in the Lidgerwood Fire Hall and voted to split with the ambulance branch. From this meeting, the Lidgerwood Rural Ambulance Service was born. The service has continued to raise money for better equipment. In 2005 they ran a donation campaign, and did so again in 2016, which demonstrates the commitment to providing the best service they can.
A strong organizational effort like this is essential for rural places like Lidgerwood, where it can take up to an hour to get residents to the hospital. The passion of the members can be surmised from this statement by member Garrett Irwin, “Even if I’m not on call, I’m going. … I want to get there as soon as I can, as safely as possible, and start medical aid.”
For a place such as Lidgerwood, programs like this could easily fall to the wayside, but thanks to the strength and passion of ambulance service members, many rural residents enjoy a greater measure of emergency care.
Dakota Datebook written by Lucid Thomas
"https://www.lidgerwoodnd.com/City/HTML/Ambulance.html" https://www.lidgerwoodnd.com/City/HTML/Ambulance.html
"http://www.wahpetondailynews.com/news_monitor/district-looks-to-buy-new-ambulance/article_ae1f4b6c-4db8-11e6-9d60-db045c24da0c.html" http://www.wahpetondailynews.com/news_monitor/district-looks-to-buy-new-ambulance/article_ae1f4b6c-4db8-11e6-9d60-db045c24da0c.html
"http://www.inforum.com/content/ambulance-district-gets-matching-grant" http://www.inforum.com/content/ambulance-district-gets-matching-grant