In the fall of 2021, Fire Chief Riley Shurtleff authored a grant to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) requesting numerous pieces of fire and EMS equipment to support our emergency response operations. CLES relies heavily on community donations and grant monies to fund purchases beyond normal operating costs. We continually strive to provide the highest quality level response to any fire or EMS emergency in the Cooper Landing response area. As such, we are constantly evaluating our tools and technology to ensure we have the most up-to-date reliable equipment that will best serve the community. As we identify deficits or areas of needed improvement, we prioritize funding based on availability and need. In preparation for submission of the ARPA grant, we identified several items that would further enhance the level of services we provide the citizens and businesses in Cooper Landing.
In early 2022, CLES received an award notice from the the Alaska Community Foundation about the ARPA grant application awarding funds toward the purchase of some of the equipment requested. Among the items awarded, were a new PowerLoad XT Stretcher. Currently, both of our EMS stretchers are 10 and 13 years old respectively. This new stretcher will complement our new EMS unit that is scheduled for delivery in April. We will continue to operate our second stretcher that was purchased with a grant last year from the Cooper Landing Senior Center. These stretchers are critical to our operations as they have electronic lifting capabilities that eliminates the need to manually lift patients into the ambulance.
In January, we also applied for and received a minigrant from Southern Region EMS Council for the purpose of purchasing equipment to treat patients with hypothermia. The new hypothermia equipment will allow us to treat patients with varying degrees of hypothermia from mild to severe. In the Cooper Landing area, we encounter these types of patients year-round. In the winter, these patients are typically suffering from exposure to cold-weather conditions, while in the summer, they are suffering from exposure to cold-water conditions after falling into the rivers or from watercraft mishaps. Since acquiring this hypothermia treatment system, we have already employed it on a patient suffering injuries as the result of a snow machine accident. I am sure that patient would have said thank you to those who provided the funds for this critical equipment!
To continue providing high quality fire and EMS responses to the community of Cooper Landing, we constantly seek out grant funding opportunities to augment the generous donations made by members of our community. We are truly grateful for every dollar we receive and treat them as if they were our own. If you have any questions regarding grants or community donations, please call 907-595-1800, email operations.cles@arctic.net or stop by the Cooper Landing Fire Station at 38748 Snug Harbor Road.
