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Tuesday, 04 December 2007 |
 LeFlore County EMS medics Brann Ligenfelter and EMS Supervisor Keith Lickly stand next to their current model ambulance sitting next to the antique unit Bob and Donella Hawley have restored.
You see restored fire trucks and even a few police cars to show how far those professions have come, but hardly does one ever see a restored ambulance. But through the efforts of LeFlore County Emergency Medical Services Director Bob Hawley and his wife, Donella, this has begun to change. “There’s not a new ambulance company in town, just a restored model being called the B&D Ambulance Service,” Bob said. The local history project is a 1979 model van ambulance that Hawley was given from a friend in southwest Oklahoma. While the vehicle may look like a run-of-the-mill ambulance, there is a great deal of historical relevance to it. According to Hawley, the vehicle was one of the first high-top designs and was based on the standard Ford Econoline van like anyone could purchase. “When we first got this vehicle back from western Oklahoma, it was terribly sun-baked with cracked tires and it hadn’t been started since the mid 1990s. My wife thought I was nuts for wanting to restore it,” Hawley said.Modular Ambulance Corporation of Grand Prairie, Texas, built the ambulance that was originally purchased by the state of Oklahoma in 1979. It was then placed at the Canton-Longdale ambulance service and accumulated 58,000 miles before being traded for a new ambulance in 1997. Between that time and last summer, the ambulance sat on a back lot of a now closed ambulance manufacturer in Clinton. After completing appropriate paperwork to have the title changed, Blue Bird trucking of Shady Point brought the unit back to begin its transformation to its original state.During his more than 30 years of service in the field of emergency medical services, Hawley has accumulated a wide range of vintage equipment to restock the ambulance. “I have received gifts from all across the state of old equipment to help make this unit a moving history display,” Hawley said. “I have period equipment that includes glass IV bottles and a suction unit that was held down on the floor with your foot, while you used one hand to pump it and perform oral suctioning with the other.” Once the interior is completed it will be taken to various EMS meetings and possibly even displayed alongside current ambulances used by LeFlore County EMS. “Although my wife calls this project ‘the other woman’ she used to make calls with me in the early days and can appreciate the time and money we’ve invested in the project," Hawley stated.The first public display of the restored ambulance is scheduled to be during upcoming Christmas parades. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 December 2007 )
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