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Delivering on a promise made by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson to increase access to care for underserved populations, and as part of his initiative to improve access to health care in rural America, the Indian Health Service (IHS) today delivered the first of 8 newly refurbished ambulances to Indian country. The Red Cliff Volunteer Ambulance Service in Wisconsin today received an ambulance through the collaborative efforts of the IHS and the Department of Defense's TRANSAM Project. The Rosebud Sioux Tribal Ambulance Service in South Dakota is receiving theirs Monday.

"This kind of collaboration is what it takes to effectively expand access to quality health care," said Secretary Thompson. "Transportation needs are a critical component of health care for underserved tribal populations, especially in remote and isolated areas where transporting the sick and injured over great distances is critical to saving lives and preserving quality of life."

As part of a 4-day tour of reservations in Michigan, Wisconsin, and South Dakota in August of last year, Secretary Thompson pledged that the Department and the IHS would do all they could to assist Indian health facilities acquire Emergency Medical Service (EMS) vehicles. In addition to the Red Cliff and Rosebud Sioux tribes, the Choctaw Nation Medical Transportation Service in Oklahoma and the Taholah Ambulance Service in Washington are scheduled to receive an ambulance later this week.

These EMS vehicles are refurbished vehicles that were procured through the TRANSAM Project. Unlike other material provided through Project TRANSAM, these ambulances are not surplus from closed or decommissioned military hospitals. These ambulances were purchased by TRANSAM from a commercial vendor whorefurbishes them to be mechanically sound and reliable to meet state certification requirements. They also ensure that all medical systems in the vehicle are in working order. A new ambulance would cost approximately $80,000, compared to the cost of a refurbished vehicle at $15-28,000.

Following the Secretary's visit to reservations last year, the Indian Health Service conducted an assessment of the 80 EMS programs operated by the Tribes and the IHS. More than 50 percent of responding programs reported that they did not have any emergency vehicle backup, and over half of those indicated an urgent need for an EMS vehicle. The IHS was able to purchase an initial 8 emergency vehicles this fiscal year, all of which are expected to be refurbished and delivered by the end of September. IHS hopes to purchase emergency vehicles for additional programs in future years. In the remote and impoverished areas these programs serve, the lack of private and public transportation to medical facilities means that patients often wait until they are severely ill before attempting to get medical care. Having available ambulances with EMS personnel onboard to provide prompt medical attention and assessment can often mean the difference between life and death for these patients. One of the busiest of all of the 80 EMS programs is the Rosebud Sioux Tribal Ambulance Service with 5500 ambulance runs each year. Their new ambulance will bring their number of ambulances in service to six.

"Usual distances for transporting patients from their homes or the health facility on the Rosebud reservation is 200 miles one-way to Rapid City or 300 miles to Sioux Falls," said Michel E. Lincoln, Acting IHS Director. "The purchase of these ambulances has helped address a critical need for emergency backup vehicles on Indian reservations."

To learn more about the EMS in Indian Country, Select this link for a copy of the report: (PDF: Quantifying the Unmet Need in IHS/Tribal Emergency Medical Services) A project funded by the Office of Program Planning and Evaluation, Office of Public Health, IHS Headquarters 1999 - 2001.

For information about this subject contact the IHS Public Affairs Office, phone: 301-443-3593 or send e-mail to Verna Miller.