By Leila Merrill
PEORIA, Ill. — Earlier this spring, OSF HealthCare, Advanced Medical Transport, the Peoria Fire Department and others donated an ambulance and 356 pallets of supplies to the people of Ukraine.
Four more ambulances will soon be on the way there. The vehicles are from Tennessee, Minnesota, Ohio and North Dakota, according to the Journal Star.
The central Illinois-based effort began when the 7-year-old daughter of Chris Manson, OSF HealthCare’s vice president of government relations, started asking questions about the war in Ukraine.
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Manson thought of Andrew Rand, CEO of AMT, the ambulance provider in Peoria, and called him, according to OSF HealthCare.
“I called Andrew and to his credit, I explained what had happened, very quickly after he said, ‘you know, it’s the least we can do. We’re happy to help’,” Manson said.
Manson recently traveled nearly 200 miles into Ukraine and met with officials there to assess their needs and find out what happened to the AMT ambulance.
“I realized that what we are doing is having an impact, and I came away from the trip better off than when I left,” he said.
Manson is working with the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America to send more medical supplies such as IV pumps and cardiac monitors.
The AMT rig is operating in Kyiv and Bucha.
“The ambulance, if it lasts or not, is there to help people. If it’s destroyed, then it served its purpose for when it was there,” he said.
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