By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
NEOSHO, Mo. — After making emergency runs in Southwest Missouri, a pair of ambulances will be making runs south of the border.
Freeman Neosho Hospital donated two of its surplus ambulances on Thursday to the Neosho chapter of Rotary International. The Neosho chapter has been gathering medical supplies to send to San Blas, a remote fishing village of 12,000 people about 100 miles north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
“These units couldn’t have come at a better time since the only ambulance in San Blas was involved in an auto accident and has been scrapped,” said Warren Langland, president of the Rotary Club of Neosho. “Our club looks at this project as a privilege to live our motto, ‘Service above Self.’”
Daxton Holcomb, chief executive officer of Freeman Neosho Hospital, said the two ambulances were surplus vehicles made available when Freeman’s ambulance service in McDonald County received replacements. The two ambulances have a lot of miles on them but have been well-maintained, he said.
Langland said he first heard about the needs of San Blas from Jerry Bennett, a Springfield-based masonry contractor who has worked with Langland’s company, Neosho Concrete Products Co. Bennett has made regular trips to the village for the past seven years, and he delivers medical supplies, such as wheelchairs and crutches, along with toys and clothes.
“This town is really poor,” Bennett said of San Blas, which has no industry. It is known for its fishing, jungles and bird-watching venues.
Many of the inhabitants live in houses with dirt floors and no electricity, Bennett said.
The local hospital is about 2,000 square feet and charges the equivalent of $5 per visit, Bennett said.
“Nobody has got $5,” he said.
Langland said Bennett provided him with a list of the medical supplies that San Blas needed.
At the bottom of the list was a notation: two ambulances.
Working with Medical Supplies Network Inc., a division of the regional Rotary Club based in Tulsa, Okla., the Neosho club started securing items on the list.
Later, Langland said, he was walking past Freeman Neosho Hospital when he noticed a pair of ambulances in the parking lot, apparently no longer in use. Langland contacted Joe Yust, a Freeman employee and fellow Rotarian, to see whether the hospital could donate them.
Langland said all that is left to do is to determine whether to drive or transport the ambulances to San Blas. If the Mexican government approves, the ambulances will be driven down. Another option, he said, is to ask the military if it could fly the vehicles down as part of a humanitarian effort.
“I get e-mails every day (asking) when these are coming,” he said.
Ambulances
One of the two Freeman ambulances being donated is equipped with four-wheel drive. Each vehicle contains supplies such as cots, ventilator equipment and splints.
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