STEVENS POINT, WI (WSAU) — Portage County has donated an ambulance to the Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas after purchasing a new ambulance in 2016.
Executive Director of Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners, Amy Wiza, says this isn’t the first time Portage County has done this.
“In 2007, there was actually another ambulance given from the Stevens Point area that went to Esteli and they are still using that today,” said Wiza. “Here it is 10 years later and 10 years on a vehicle, a lot of wear and tear can make it challenging to maintain it, but they’re still using that ambulance.”
Administrative Assistant for the County Executive, Jami Gebert, says some work does need to be done to the ambulance yet.
She said, “There was actually two batteries replaced in the ambulance before it left in order to have it in good driving condition. But once it’s shipped down to Esteli, Nicaragua they’ll actually do some work on it to make it more accessible for their road quality and what they’re using it for.”
The 2000 International ambulance will now be stored in Stevens Point until there is available space on a United State Department of Defense aircraft to take it to Nicaragua.
