Omarama is about to get its new $90,000 first-response emergency vehicle and defibrillator, a result of more than a year's fund-raising to pay for it.
To celebrate, an open day is being planned for October 11 to show off the new double-cab Nissan Navara four-wheel-drive vehicle and its equipment.
The co-response unit is the first to attend a crash or medical emergency, its five ambulance-trained officers from the Omarama Fire Brigade providing medical treatment until a St John ambulance arrives.
Omarama has had a first-response unit for 10 years, using a 1992 four-wheel-drive double-cab Toyota Hilux to attend emergencies, including crashes on the state highways.
However, the vehicle had reached the end of its life.
Omarama First Response Trust chairman Craig Dawson said yesterday the new vehicle had now been fitted out with its equipment and was expected to be collected from Dunedin within the next few days.
The new unit would have a modern defibrillator to suit new procedures set out by the New Zealand Resuscitation Council.
