Sending an old ambulance to Ukraine, where it can immediately make a difference, is what being in EMS is all about, says the head of El Paso's Emergency Squad.
Karen Kurg, who administers the Woodford County village's emergency medical team, said it wasn't a hard decision for her and her board of trustees to ship the vehicle – which they had replaced with a newer one – overseas.
"We didn't need it, and no one else wanted it, so why not send it to an organization that wanted it? It's all about the greater good," she said. "It's very gratifying to know. Actually, that it is being used exactly how we used it, but the value is 1,000 times more valuable than when we were using it.
"They need it right now," Kurg said.
That vehicle and about 10 others are either in the war-torn nation or on their way, said Chris Manson, who is OSF HealthCare's vice president of government relations and the person who got the first Advanced Medical Transport ambulance over to Ukraine in April.