Aladdin Shriners grants benefit Licking County fire departments

Several area fire departments were awarded grants aimed at benefitting children last week.

According to letters from the Aladdin Shriners Hospital Association for Children, the organization gave the grants in hopes they would benefit Licking County fire departments, their communities and especially the children in their communities.

Mary Ann Township Fire Chief Keisha Amspaugh said their department was awarded $5,601 to be used toward the purchase of two Evac-U splint complete systems, two pediatric vacuum mattress sets and two Thomas ALS hard cases.

Amspaugh explained the splints are like beanbags and can be used to splint a broken limb on a child for transportation to a hospital. She said they'll also be purchasing medication boxes to make things easier on their team to treat pediatric patients.

"It helps because when you're dealing with kids, all of your drug doses and everything, everything is weight based. ...When you have an upset kid crying and a frantic parent, it takes an already bad situation and makes it worse," she said. "These new medication boxes will help keep things organized and will help us get what needs done faster and 100% accurately."

Amspaugh also serves as assistant fire chief at Buckeye Lake, where the department received $5,071 in grant funding from Aladdin Shriners. She said their department will be purchasing the splints for children as well as vein finders, which will help their team find veins in a child's arm easier and faster.

"Some of these pieces of equipment, we've wanted them for a long time, like the new drug boxes. They're hundreds of dollars a piece. We have to weigh wants versus needs. It makes our jobs easier, but when it's not in the budget, it's hard to justify doing something like that," Amspaugh said. "When we have grants, it allows us to hone in on specialty equipment. So it's nice to be awarded and nice to know when we receive this equipment for our community, it's already paid for and taken care of."

At Newton Tonwship Fire Department, fire prevention officer Ashley Baker said their department received $1,061 from the Aladdin Shriners. The grant will be used to purchase six trauma bags, she said, which have bleeding control items to be used in the event of a mass casualty incident.

Newton Township Fire Chief Doug Smith said three bags will be placed on each of the departments medic units.

"These bags will allow us to quickly and efficiently respond to mass casualty events and render life-saving aid," he said.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Aladdin Shriners grants benefit Licking County fire departments