CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Mathis Emergency Medical Services has been staying busy responding to calls in both the county and the city.
Now thanks to recent grant money, they can continue doing their job with state-of-the-art equipment.
"We can take 8 to 10 calls in a day. It can be a call for a stubbed toe or the greatest most difficult call to deal with,” EMT provider Robert Aldape said.
Aldape has been with City of Mathis EMS for over two years. He's one of 10 full-time employees operating the only 24/7 ambulance in the county.
Part of Aldape's job is having the equipment to care for his patients.
"The LUCAS device and the stair chair help us greatly in two different aspects of medical care that we provide,” Aldape said.
Those necessary pieces of equipment were out of their reach until now. Mathis EMS Chief Paul Pulley said the entire department helped in the grant writing process.
"We applied to the Flint Hills Resources Helping Heroes Program,” Pulley said.
That money was used to purchase a new stair chair to transport patients into the ambulance. They also applied for a grant with the Port of Corpus Christi.
"They awarded us a little over $21,000 for a LUCAS device,” said Pulley.
A LUCAS Device is used to start chest compression. This equipment is critical to patient care and will make their job easier.
"Lifting patients is heavy and lifting bodies and doing CPR for a long time is hard on the body. The new equipment will help us greatly for our health and treatment of the patient,” Aldape said.
As these first responders wait for that equipment to be delivered, they are adding something else on their wish list: a new fully equipped ambulance, so they can continue serving the community.
