In the ever-evolving world of emergency medical services (EMS), agencies are constantly seeking innovative ways to maximize resources and enhance their capabilities. The Greater Valley EMS, based in Northern Pennsylvania, has taken a unique approach to this challenge by repurposing a retired coroner's vehicle into a versatile work truck. Derrick Hall, Executive Director of this group, shared the fascinating story of how his agency acquired and transformed the 2013 Chevy Silverado 2500.
The Discovery
While browsing through the auction listings on Municibid, Derrick came across a familiar sight. His not-for-profit EMS team supports part of Bradford County in Pennsylvania and a portion of Tavis County in New York. Without funding from tax dollars, they rely on donations, grants, and related things. That’s what brought him to Municibid and how he discovered a coroner's vehicle from a neighboring county he had previously worked with.
What caught his eye was the Stryker power load system and a stretcher in the back of the truck, the same equipment used in their ambulances.
“And when I saw that truck listed, I immediately recognized the vehicle more or less about an hour and a half away from Lekomi County, Pennsylvania, which is where this truck had served the coroner's office for the first 10 years of its life. I've worked with the coroner's office down there on some joint projects and some regional projects also. So, as soon as I saw the picture, I recognized the lettering and the paint scheme and everything else on there.”
“We're pretty familiar with their office. And I knew that seeing that truck, I knew it had been well taken care of for the first 10 years of its life.” - Derrick Hall
The Winning Bid and Unexpected Opportunity
As part of an ongoing fleet upgrade project, Derrick’s intention was to acquire the power load system and transplant it into one of their ambulances. However, after winning the auction at a remarkably low price – less than half the cost of a new system – and inspecting the truck's excellent condition, the agency decided to keep and repurpose the entire vehicle.
“Our winning bid was probably just under half of what that new power load system and the stretcher would cost if we got it from Stryker, the manufacturer. Yeah, we really lucked out there. That was a huge win for us.”
Then we went down to pick up the truck, saw what kind of condition it was in, how well they had taken care of it, which we suspected anyway, because like I said, we have a familiarity with their office, so we knew they had taken care of it. But really, when we brought it back here, some of our board members looked at it and it was just a no-brainer for it to keep the truck also.” - Derrick Hall
The Transformation and Expanded Capabilities
The pickup truck has proven to be invaluable, allowing the Greater Valley EMS to carry specialized equipment for their water rescue operations, vehicle extrication, and work productively in the snow. Great Valley is now empowered to respond more effectively to a wide range of emergencies.
“We had the Stryker technician transplant the stretcher system into an ambulance…Worked out great for us as far as that goes.”
“We ended up using the pickup truck to replace a 2010 Dodge Charger that we had, that was primarily used for paramedic response to support our ambulance crews. So during the day, myself being a paramedic, my operations manager is also a paramedic, we would use that vehicle to go out and respond and support our ambulance crews if they were on the street and they needed that extra set of hands for a critical patient or for lifting and moving patients.” - Derrick Hall
Perhaps the most remarkable example of the truck's impact occurred during a severe car accident last summer. A patient was trapped in a rolled-over vehicle, and the trauma team determined that a field amputation might be necessary to free them. In a truly extraordinary move, Greater Valley EMS used the truck to transport two surgeons, a cooler full of blood, and their medical equipment directly to the scene.
“We were able to take this truck. We responded to the hospital, picked up two surgeons, a cooler full of blood, responded with them out to the scene, took all of their equipment, and multiple units of blood to the scene. And we were able to have a good outcome for the patient because of the resources that this truck helped deliver to the scene.”
“Our medical director actually wrote a peer-reviewed journal article report on this, showing the value of being able to get that surgical team out to the field and the blood products and the impact that it has on patients' lives and part of that is facilitated because we had this to be used for that.” - Derrick Hall
Looking Ahead: Addressing Challenges and Encouraging Volunteerism
Greater Valley EMS's journey reminds us that even in the face of challenges, creative solutions can emerge when we approach problems with an open mind and a willingness to explore unconventional paths, such as supporting your cause using government surplus. Yet, despite their innovation, Greater Valley, like many other agencies, faces ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining volunteers. Derrick emphasized the importance of community involvement and encouraged those with diverse skill sets to consider volunteering, even if they are not directly involved in patient care.
“We're always looking for volunteers. Any EMS agency that uses volunteers is always looking for volunteers. We're no different than church group or the Little League or the Red Cross. Everybody is running real short on volunteers these days, so any additional hands are always welcome there too.”
“And speaking not only for us, but also for other agencies out there too, if someone is listening, interested in volunteering for their local EMS agency, it's not always they have to be in the back of the ambulance taking care of somebody. The services can use help in the office, whether it's doing administrative tasks or, you know, someone to help with inventory control or, you know, budgeting and finance sort of things. If someone has an area of expertise, there's probably a way they can apply that to their local EMS agency.” - Derrick Hall
Whether you want to volunteer, run a business, or you’re looking for a pet project to complete while at home, government surplus is a sure way to add innovation and excitement to your life. Take a look at our police vehicles, landscaping equipment, and so much more!
[Derrick Hall] (0:00 - 0:34)
We were able to take this truck, we responded to the hospital, picked up two surgeons, a cooler full of blood, responded with them out to the scene, and we were able to have a good outcome for the patient because of the resources that this truck helped deliver to the scene.
Join us as we dive into the wild world of government auctions and take you behind the scenes to uncover the cool and unique ways bidders from across America are utilizing the items they've won on Municibid. Like an ambulance repurposed into a work truck, to a city bus converted into an RV, and so much more.
Welcome to the Municibid Podcast.
[Sophie Eden] (0:40 - 0:42)
Hi, Derrick. How are you doing today?
[Derrick Hall] (0:42 - 0:43)
Doing well, thank you.
[Sophie Eden] (0:44 - 0:49)
Can you start us off by giving an introduction of who you are and what you do?
[Derrick Hall] (0:50 - 1:15)
Sure. I'm Derrick Hall. I'm the Executive Director at Greater Valley EMS. We're a not-for-profit emergency medical services agency that serves the northern tier of Bradford County, Pennsylvania and the western portion of Tavis County, New York. For advanced and basic life support ambulance service, we also provide rescue services, a SCUBA team, and we provide non-emergency wheelchair and stretcher van services to our community.
[Sophie Eden] (1:16 - 1:42)
Wow. That's a lot of services. So can you share some of the differences between non-profit, volunteer, and government-funded EMS organizations?
Because that's something I don't think the general public necessarily is aware there's a difference. They just know when they call for help, someone shows up and helps them out.
[Derrick Hall] (1:43 - 2:46)
Sure. Yes. And that is always the goal that someone's there when the public needs us.
Like I mentioned, we are a not-for-profit EMS agency. We are a combination career and volunteer agency, so we have folks that are here and paid to be here for EMTs and paramedics, and we have some that are volunteers also. A lot of our volunteers help us provide those specialty services that are somewhat unique to us, like the SCUBA team that we offer and our vehicle and technical rescue services that we provide.
Those divisions are all staffed by our volunteers day in and day out. So we've got a good core group of dedicated folks there. We're not supported by any tax dollars from the municipalities or the state or anything else.
So we rely on these for service primarily and also grants, donations, subscriptions, fund drives, that sort of thing too. So it is always very important for us to stretch those dollars as best we can and to be good fiscal stewards of every dollar that we have. That's where Municipid has come to be a huge piece of that puzzle for us.
[Sophie Eden] (2:47 - 2:51)
And what has been your favorite auction win on Municibid?
[Derrick Hall] (2:51 - 2:58)
Well, I think our best find so far is the 2013 Chevy Silverado 2500 that we purchased in 2023.
[Sophie Eden] (2:59 - 3:02)
And, why was that your favorite?
[Derrick Hall] (3:03 - 8:18)
Well, we sort of lucked into it really. I try to peruse the newly listed auctions a couple times a week just to make sure we're not missing out on anything, especially in the fire or the police and fire categories that's listed on there also. So, we try to keep tabs on that and see what's out there.
And when I saw that truck listed, I immediately recognized the vehicle more or less about an hour and a half away from Lekomi County, Pennsylvania, which is where this truck had served the coroner's office for the first 10 years of its life. So I've worked with the coroner's office down there on some joint projects and some regional projects also. So as soon as I saw the picture, I recognized the lettering and the paint scheme and everything else on there.
So we're pretty familiar with their office. And I knew that seeing that truck, I knew it had been well taken care of for the first 10 years of its life. What interested us the most in it was the patient stretcher system that was in the back of the vehicle.
Because it was a coroner's office truck, they had a stretcher system in there, which is the same, essentially, as what we have for our ambulances. But they had the Stryker power load system in there, as well as the Stryker power stretcher also. So we had the same stretcher in our ambulances, but we were working through a series of projects to upgrade our ambulance fleet to include the power load system that that truck had in the back of it.
And essentially what that does is that bears the whole weight of the stretcher as you're moving a patient in or out of the vehicle. So it's a huge back saver for our crews as we're lifting and moving patients. So I knew seeing the truck that that was in the back of it.
So that was my first question as I opened the auction was, is that included in the auction? And they were very explicit in the listing that it was. So that really drew our attention to it.
I watched the auction, followed it, got the approval from our board to pursue the auction up to a set amount. They gave me an amount that I could go up to with the auction. And our intention was to take that Stryker power load system out of the back of that truck and transplant it into one of our ambulances and basically repurpose that.
At the time, the truck was, it just hit 10 years old. It's a 2013, so it just hit 10 years old. It had about 130,000 miles on it, which in today's day and age isn't as much for a work vehicle like that.
So we were successful. We won the auction. We actually won the auction.
Our winning bid was probably just under half of what that new power load system and the stretcher would cost if we got it from Stryker, the manufacturer. Yeah, we really lucked out there. That was a huge win for us.
And again, that was our intention was to repurpose that stretcher system into one of our ambulances, so we could systematically move our fleet forward. Then we went down to pick up the truck, saw what kind of condition it was in, how well they had taken care of it, which we suspected anyway, because like I said, we have a familiarity with their office, so we knew they had taken care of it. But really, when we brought it back here, some of our board members looked at it and it was just a no-brainer for it to keep the truck also.
So we did that. We had the Stryker technician transplant the stretcher system into an ambulance. So that was taken out of the back of the truck and installed in one of our ambulances.
Worked out great for us as far as that goes. Again, because that had been so well maintained, Stryker was able to continue the warranty on it, which saved us tremendously also. And then we were able to repurpose the truck.
So we ended up using the pickup truck to replace a 2010 Dodge Charger that we had, that was primarily used for paramedic response to support our ambulance crews. So during the day, myself being a paramedic, my operations manager is also a paramedic, we would use that vehicle to go out and respond and support our ambulance crews if they were on the street and they needed that extra set of hands for a critical patient or for lifting and moving patients. So we repurposed the Silverado, replaced the Charger with the Silverado, which also brought a huge array of additional benefits to the fleet also.
It's another four-wheel drive vehicle, of course. So we get snow up here in north central Pennsylvania. That's been a huge asset for us to have in the fleet now already this year.
It's still used by us daily for paramedic response. Our physician medical director that oversees the agency, the medical components of the agency, you know, he's a doctor that works in the ER, but when he's in there doing office time, he'll use this vehicle for field response also. So that's pretty cool and gives us added capabilities, added storage space there for him so we can bring the doctor out into the field when we need to with that.
The truck itself, we were able to put a sliding unit in the back of it so we're able to maximize the full length of that bed for storage space for equipment. We use it to support our scuba team. We have water rescue equipment on there.
We have vehicle rescue equipment in there. So it really has helped to diversify our fleet at a fraction of what the cost of that vehicle do would be.
[Sophie Eden] (8:19 - 8:27)
And with the stretcher system, to purchase that brand new, what is the range of that usually?
[Derrick Hall] (8:27 - 8:38)
In general, it probably was about a quarter of what that would cost us new. So that's generally about a $65,000 to $75,000 system.
[Sophie Eden] (8:38 - 8:40)
For one stretcher system? Wow.
[Derrick Hall] (8:41 - 9:12)
For one complete system. Yep.
So we were able to get this whole package, if you will, for less than half of that cost. So again, once we saw the truck and recognized the great shape that it was in, it was a no brainer for us to repurpose that and put that on the street now, take it from the coroner's vehicle. We did rewrap it so it matches the rest of our fleet.
And now it's out there with paramedics and sometimes even a physician that's responding to save lives. So kind of brought that vehicle full circle too, which we always think is kind of neat.
[Sophie Eden] (9:12 - 9:30)
That's phenomenal. And can you explain how this stretcher system works? Like I think people might have a concept on TV of like the stretcher where it, then the legs like drop down and you can wheel it.
Is this system like that or is it a different setup?
[Derrick Hall] (9:31 - 11:36)
This system is like that, but on steroids. So this system allows us to not have to lift that stretcher into the back of the ambulance. So if you watch any home reruns of emergency, that sort of thing, you see crew members, one on each side of the stretcher, it's all the way down.
They pick it up and they feed it into the back of the ambulance. That was the first generation, if you will. The second generation is what we had this system replaced.
And that is the wheels on the stretcher raise and lower hydraulically. So that bears the weight of it, but the crew members still have to bear the weight of what's the foot end of that stretcher as we're putting that into the ambulance and pulling it back out. So the stretcher that came with that still has that capability.
So it has the hydraulics to raise and lower it once it's out on the ground. But the system for loading the stretcher comes out of the back of the vehicle and it has two arms on it that swing up under the undercarriage of the stretcher and bear the full weight of that stretcher. And then we just push the stretcher into the ambulance with no more effort than it is to close a filing cabinet drawer at that point.
So that it takes that whole weight of the stretcher and the patient onto the system. And we literally just push it into the ambulance. And then when we get to the hospital, we just release a latch, pull it back out again with as much effort as it takes to pull out a file cabinet drawer and the system takes over from there.
Just for reference, the stretcher itself weighs over just over 100 pounds-ish, I believe. But they're rated for patients up to 700 pounds. Fantastic.
Yes, that device is a huge back saver for us. Regardless of the size of the patient that's there, the equipment's rated for very, very high limits. But regardless of the size of the patient, that takes all of that off of us literally and is a huge accomplishment for us to be able to reduce that risk of back injury and lifting and moving injuries for our people.
[Sophie Eden] (11:36 - 11:37)
That's outstanding.
[Derrick Hall] (11:37 - 11:49)
I'm a firm believer that all of our EMTs and paramedics are just one career-ending back injury away from having a bad day. And this helps to that end tremendously.
[Sophie Eden] (11:50 - 11:58)
Yeah. The last thing you want is your own team suffering an injury while trying to respond and help others.
[Derrick Hall] (11:58 - 12:14)
Yeah. As with anything, we have a very limited pool of employees to draw from, just like any other industry does too. So for us to be able to provide some of this equipment to enhance the safety of our crews, even just in the lifting and moving components of the job, is a huge success for us.
[Sophie Eden] (12:15 - 12:33)
That's brilliant. And I'm sure you have a lot of stories of cases, you know, that you've helped assist with. Is there a memorable one that comes to mind with using either this new stretcher system or the truck that you won?
[Derrick Hall] (12:34 - 14:39)
Well, yeah. Actually, we had a great opportunity to use this as a support piece for some of our neighbors in the Chemone County, New York area last summer. I'm not sure of the specifics of the date.
It was hot out. It was June, July, somewhere in there. There was a motor vehicle accident on the other side of Elmira.
So it's about a 25 to 30-minute trip from here. But the hospital here in our town is the trauma center that serves that whole greater area. So there was a very complicated, very involved motor vehicle accident.
It was a vehicle that had rolled over. The driver was entrapped in the vehicle. They had a number of fire departments there.
They had called for the helicopter to respond out there also. The helicopter got there, recognized the severity of the patient's injuries. They share the same medical director that we do, which works out well for us.
So they called for him to come to the scene. He in turn called the trauma center and requested that they release an emergency supply of emergency blood and also a surgical response team. There had been discussion that they may have to do a field amputation in order to free this patient.
So they called us. We were able to take this truck. We responded to the hospital, picked up two surgeons, a cooler full of blood, responded with them out to the scene, took two surgeons, all of their equipment, and multiple units of blood to the scene.
And we were able to have a good outcome for the patient because of the resources that this truck helped deliver to the scene. Our medical director actually wrote a peer-reviewed journal article report on this, showing the value of being able to get that surgical team out to the field and the blood products and the impact that it has on patients' lives and part of that is facilitated because we had this to be used for that. So we had the space, we had the ability, we could load everything that they needed in there and basically take that surgical team right to the scene of the incident.
So that's probably one of the coolest things we've been able to pull off with this vehicle so far.
[Sophie Eden] (14:40 - 14:54)
Wow. That is phenomenal. Great work to you and your team.
That's incredible. Is bringing the surgeons from the hospital directly to the scene a common scenario?
[Derrick Hall] (14:55 - 15:57)
No, not at all. That's definitely one of those one-off scenarios. It's one of those things that happens once every, you know, four or five years really, if that.
Normally it's something that's able to be resolved before they get to that point. That's kind of like a plan X, Y, or Z of patient extrication. So it's a very rare occurrence and we were very happy to be able to help facilitate that and make sure that that patient got what they needed.
Everything was taken to the side, to the patient's side of that incident and like I said, they had a very successful outcome because of that. They were essentially able to do everything as far as patient resuscitation, give that patient the amount of blood in the field that he would have normally had to have waited until he got to the emergency room to receive because we were able to facilitate some of that response. So it was cool for us.
It was a great outcome also. Yeah, everyone, the whole community has benefited for having this added resource there.
[Sophie Eden] (15:58 - 16:27)
That's amazing. Wow, just phenomenal work. Talking about resources, can you share a bit more about what's going on for Greater Valley EMS and also like the EMS industry overall as far as how you're managing with resources and how you're getting volunteers and if someone's listening and they're interested in volunteering, like how they could get involved?
[Derrick Hall] (16:27 - 18:51)
Sure, absolutely. We're always looking for volunteers. Any EMS agency that uses volunteers is always looking for volunteers.
We're no different than church group or the Little League or the Red Cross. Everybody is running real short on volunteers these days, so any additional hands are always welcome there too. And speaking not only for us, but also for other agencies out there too, if someone is listening, interested in volunteering for their local EMS agency, it's not always they have to be in the back of the ambulance taking care of somebody.
Now the services can use help in the office, whether it's doing administrative tasks or, you know, someone to help with inventory control or, you know, budgeting and finance sort of things. If someone has an area of expertise, there's probably a way they can apply that to their local EMS agency. Like with us, for example, our board of directors is all volunteers from the community.
We've got an attorney that serves with us on the board of directors. We have a banker that's on there with us. So anyone that has that kind of specialty skills that can really bring that to the table in some way, shape or form, don't feel limited that you have to be in the back of an ambulance if you want to help your local EMS agency also.
So for us, it's, you know, we started as an all-volunteer service. We hired the first executive director in 1994 and have been progressively adding staff to supplement because of increased call volume. And at Greater Valley, we do about 6,000 to 6,200 calls a year on the ambulance side of the house.
So that is a lot to manage. We have two crews 24-7. So to help ensure that we have that coverage for the community, we have shifted, you know, more and more to paid staff here to do that.
But like I mentioned, we do have a bunch of dedicated volunteers. And some of them stop in on their lunch hour just to see how things are going on and end up catching some calls. And our rescue and scuba volunteers are always available, you know, all hours of the day and night when that call comes in too, just like the fire departments and everyone else too.
So again, even with the fire departments, if you don't have a desire to go into a burning building, you can still use that same skill set that I mentioned also to help with some of those more administrative tasks or some of the exterior things, if you will, just to provide that support, but also as an opportunity to give back to the community.
[Sophie Eden] (18:51 - 19:14)
That's wonderful. And over 6,000 calls a year, that's a lot. How would you categorize the types of calls coming in?
Are there some where they're not really emergencies? Or how often is it that you're having to respond straight away to a call versus like able to assist them in another way?
[Derrick Hall] (19:14 - 20:22)
Yeah, so almost all of those 6,000 calls that we run are 911 dispatched emergency calls. So to someone, it's an emergency, even if it's a call that requires just a basic level of life support skills, all the way up through the advanced life support skills that our paramedics can offer as far as IV medications and advanced airway management and all those skills too. So no, they run the whole gamut of that spectrum, but they all are 911 dispatched emergency calls.
So we're able to utilize our crews and determine based on the priority of the call from the 911 center, what configuration of crew we would send if it's a basic life support priority call versus an advanced life support. And if it's one of those more critical or more acute advanced life support calls, again, that's where we'll typically send out another paramedic or another set of hands in a support vehicle like the truck that we got through Municibid. So we can support those crews because with 6,000 calls a year, the next call is not too far away.
So if we can use vehicles like that to send out another pair of hands to support a crew, it keeps that other ambulance crew in service for the next call, which is only a few minutes away.
[Sophie Eden] (20:22 - 20:32)
That's fantastic. Is there anything else that you'd like to share about Greater Valley EMS and the work that you all are doing?
[Derrick Hall] (20:32 - 21:07)
We offer some services that make us unique as far as the rescue and the school and support services that we offer. But other than that, just like any other EMS agency, you're always looking for people that are interested in help, whether it's getting first responder EMT training, volunteering to any degree. We're glad that we're able to make things happen and provide that service when the community needs it.
We started as a community service in 1948. We celebrated 75 years of service last year. We continue to hold that mindset of being a community-oriented service to it.
That's our focus is making sure we can be there when the community needs us.
[Sophie Eden] (21:09 - 21:31)
Fantastic. And you're definitely doing that. Can you share with your SCUBA team, how often are they going out?
Is that like daily, like with the other basic and like advanced life support services? And what type of scenarios are they responding to?
[Derrick Hall] (21:32 - 22:57)
And so our SCUBA team is a very low frequency, but high-profile activation when that happens. We sit between the Susweyan and the Chemung rivers. So we have a lot of recreational kayaking and boating and fishing traffic on those waterways.
We also have just a slew of small ponds and lakes throughout the area also. So that's typically what we respond out to. If it's somebody that's on river and has a kayak that capsizes, that sort of deal, we'll respond out there in conjunction with the local fire departments that provide the swift water response.
Basically, they provide that water rescue support for everything above the water. And then the SCUBA divers provide that rescue and recovery for anything below the water. But we all work in tandem.
It's a team response when that happens. Generally, it's only a few times a year that we do end up with those responses, which is okay. I mean, it's a good thing for the community.
It does lead to recruitment and retention challenges, but to try to offset that, we do regular training. Summertime, we try to get out into the rivers and we've got a couple folks around the area that are more than willing to let us come use their ponds and that sort of thing for training. So we're able to keep our skills up as far as that goes and make sure that we do have those skills sharp and ready when we need them.
But thankfully, it's only a few times a year we end up actually having to go out for a sea air response for that.
[Sophie Eden] (22:57 - 23:14)
That's very good. The less, the better. And these situations, they're more so like recreational uses of water, like not really like a vehicle that has veered off and crashed into the river?
[Derrick Hall] (23:15 - 24:04)
It's a combination of both. Most of our recreational related activities that get us out there, we do from time to time have vehicles that end up crashing into the rivers. So that's always a consideration for us also.
The other thing that we also do just as often as patient-oriented response for SCUBA is we also support local and state law enforcement for evidence recovery. And we've been out multiple times for that also. If somebody is involved in a crime, throw something over the side of the bridge, now we need some divers to go get it sort of deal.
So those are okay. Those are an easy peasy thing for us to make sure our skills are sharp. But when we do have the patient-related calls, they're a combination of being recreational related and also more vehicle accident.
[Sophie Eden] (24:05 - 24:24)
That's very interesting. And with the evidence retrieval, how often do you actually find what you're looking for? Because I imagine that's very difficult in a river, moving water.
I don't know how deep this river is, but I imagine that's quite the challenge.
[Derrick Hall] (24:25 - 24:39)
It is always the challenge. Generally when it's in there, we're pretty good at locating whatever we're looking for. The caveat there obviously is that sometimes the story that's given doesn't always match up with what actually happened.
So sometimes it's not even there to start.
[Sophie Eden] (24:40 - 24:41)
Very true.
[Derrick Hall] (24:41 - 24:53)
The other benefit of that is with the public safety diving training that we have, we're able to fairly accurately say that if we've searched an area that something's not in there.
[Sophie Eden] (24:54 - 25:11)
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Derek, for your time today and sharing your stories. It's incredible to hear.
And hopefully we're able to send a few volunteers over your way and support the fantastic work that you're doing.
[Derrick Hall] (25:11 - 25:31)
That would be great. Like I said, if not us, then wherever someone is listening from, they can always be of use. So we're happy to help support that cause globally.
Thank you for tuning into the Municibid Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about the world of government surplus, be sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Last Updated on June 25, 2024