Concord Deploys 4th Ambulance For Coronavirus Calls

CONCORD, NH — Concord's city manager has instituted a new plan to allow a fourth ambulance in the city to handle calls for the new coronavirus. Tom Aspell told councilors Monday he put the fourth ambulance into rotation due to the length of time it was taking to disinfect ambulances after every COVID-19 call. The city normally has three ambulances and two backups.

One of the two backups has been brought into the system to offset the waiting time which was affecting EMT response times.

The plan, which started Monday, was for the fourth unit to be a 24-hour pandemic response ambulance, with special equipment and prepped for "high-risk" procedures. The unit also has a battery-operated disinfectant defogger.

The fourth ambulance will be used if there were a surge of calls, the city's surge hospitals were opened, if there was an extensive contamination circumstance at a nursing home, or it is needed due to call volume for COVID-19 or suspected coronavirus cases increasing or delayed disinfectant and cleaning situations with the other three ambulances.

Aspell said he believed the cost of the ambulance could be offset by federal funds and was working to find those funds since this was a new cost.

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