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By By JIM RUNKLE
LOCK HAVEN – The Lock Haven Emergency Medical Services has accepted the keys – and occupancy permit -to its newly expanded, $609,000 facility.
President and Chief of Operations Gerard Banfill expressed joy and satisfaction Monday as he viewed the finished product.
The expansion was seven years in the making, with design work by Eastern Resources Inc. of Beech Creek (John Gummo, president), and general contractor M&R Contracting Inc. (James Russo, president).
“I would like to thank the board of directors and the general membership for their patience,’ Banfill said.
Construction on the, new three-bay addition at 21 N. Liberty St. started last September, Banfill said.
The public will have a chance to view the improvements at an open house tentatively scheduled for the middle of May.
“We started out with planning, engineering and blueprints and property acquisition,” Banfill said.
The original building was a three-bay, 8,000-square-foot, two-story structure with offices, sleeping quarters and a training room on the second floor.
Banfill said the project added another 3,800 square feet and four bays, with the entire complex designed to house all mobile equipment: A fleet of nine vehicles, including three ambulances, five wheelchair vans and one mass-casualty trailer.
Lock Haven EMS maintains a staff of 34, almost evenly divided between EMTs and paramedics.
Originally chartered as a fire police-ambulance agency on March 4, 1942, the organization was reorganized as Lock Haven Emergency Medical Services in the middle 1990s, Banfill said.
Financing for the effort was obtained via fundraising efforts, with the balance provided by a loan from Jersey Shore State Bank
Banfill emphasized that LH EMS stands ready to help the public, 24-hours-a-day, every day.