The Woolwich ambulance service has been on the go the past few weeks having responded to 20 calls so far in February, and 52 since the start of the new year, according to EMS Director Danny Evarts. Evarts gave his bi-weekly report to the selectboard Wednesday evening, Feb. 21.

In his report, Evarts said he’d recently applied for a $2,000 grant from the Savvik Buying Group. The money would be used to purchase a life-size training mannequin. “This mannequin would allow us to do even higher quality training scenarios,” wrote Evarts. According to the organization’s website, Savvik Buying Group, based in St. Cloud, Minnesota is a non-profit organization offering group-purchasing to its EMS membership. The organization was formed to reduce the financial impact of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Savvik’s 2024 grant recipients will be announced April 1.

Evarts said he’d begun seeking bids for the installation of an electrical inverter unit in Rescue 2, in addition to an Opticom in Rescue 1. “Adding an inverter, if the price is reasonable and within our budget, would allow us to stay at a fire, or accident scene for longer periods by keeping our (electrical) equipment charged.” An Opticom unit allows ambulance personnel control over traffic signals during emergency runs. Evarts said the unit would be useful at the Route 1/Nequasset Road intersection near the fire station, and other busy traffic intersections including ones in Wiscasset, Brunswick, Augusta and Portland.

“Currently Rescue 2 has a built-in Opticom, but Rescue 1 does not. We are using a large handheld unit provided by the State, which is awkward to use while driving,” he explained. Evarts told the selectboard neither of the items are “instant necessities” but acquiring quotes would be helpful to first responders. “(It) will allow us to know if these are within our budget, or what grants we might need to help pay for them,” he stated.

Feb. 21 was a busy day for the selectboard and began at 2:30 p.m. with a 2024-25 budget workshop at the town office. An hour later the board went into executive session to consider a poverty abatement. At 4, the selectboard held a pre-bid meeting with contractors regarding the planned municipal building roofing project. Chairman David King Sr. called it a busy but productive afternoon. King told Wiscasset Newspaper afterwards, work on the 2024-25 town budget was progressing. “We still need to meet with Patten Free Library representatives to review their request, and haven’t reviewed funding requests from the other non-profit organizations,” he said.

A regular meeting of the selectboard followed at 4:30. No new business was listed on the agenda. The next regular meeting will be Wednesday, March 6 at 5 p.m. in the municipal building.