Newburgh EMS gets $365,000 grant for safer ambulance upgrade

Town of Newburgh Emergency Medical Services took delivery of a new ambulance backed by a $365,000 state legislative grant, replacing a 2018 unit that had become expensive to keep on the road. The rig cost about $380,000.

TONEMS serves about 30,000 people across a 47-square-mile area from its headquarters at 97 South Plank Road in Newburgh. The agency averages 12 to 15 calls a day and is sometimes dispatched as far away as Goshen and Beacon. In 2023, one of its ambulances needed constant, expensive repairs and the service was sometimes left with only two working ambulances.

Assemblyman Jonathan Jacobson secured the grant that helped pay for the new unit. In 2023, Jacobson backed a separate $217,000 ambulance grant that helped finance another new rig equipped with a Stryker Powerload System and designed to carry up to 700 pounds. That purchase was also aimed at reducing back injuries for crews who routinely lift and move patients under difficult conditions.

This latest ambulance includes lighted door handles to help crews find exterior storage at night, red lighting around the lower trim so responders can see where to step, a powered stretcher loading system, a powered stair chair and seat restraints with airbags for crew and patient protection. Executive Director Chris Napolitano said the safety changes matter because back strain is one of the biggest injuries in EMS, and powered equipment reduces the physical toll on personnel while giving the service more flexibility on difficult calls.

The service was founded in 1967 after St. Luke’s Hospital stopped ambulance service in town, began its first day on the road on February 1, 1968, and operated on a first budget of $5,993 funded entirely by donations. The service became a hybrid volunteer-and-career EMS agency in 2018, the same year it bought the ambulance now being replaced. Its call volume has climbed from nearly 3,000 in 2020 to 3,822 in 2021 and more than 4,300 in 2023.