Longmont Emergency Unit, or LEU, volunteers arrived at its headquarters on February 15, 2020 to find its only ambulance had been vandalized beyond repair. In a moment of desperation, LEU reached out to the Longmont Rotary for help.
LEU is a nonprofit organization that began in 1957 after three brothers drowned in Issac Walton Pond. At the time, Longmont did not have a team that was capable of conducting water rescues, especially ice water rescues.
Since then, LEU has assembled an all-volunteer team to assist Longmont Public Safety with emergency incident response, traffic and crowd control at active scenes, evidence searches, fire support services, missing person searches and swift water and dive operations rescues.
The group has also held a position with the St. Vrain Valley School District in which it provided medical support at local football games.
When LEU learned it had to retire its only ambulance the volunteers realized just how impactful the vandalism was going to be.
While LEU does not charge for its emergency responses, it does charge a small fee for its medical support services at private and public events. Since it no longer had an ambulance, the group was forced to cancel several contracts that provided a small source of revenue.
“We are hoping to get that contract back along with other contracts,” said Armando Trujillo, deputy chief at LEU.
Desperate to replace the ambulance, LEU reached out to the Rotary Club of Longmont. Through its charity fund, the Rotary was able to provide LEU with a $3,000 grant, not enough to cover the full cost of an ambulance which was priced around $80,000.
Mike Anderson, chief of LEU, continued to look for more options. He came across a post by the Palisade Fire Department which was looking to donate two ambulances. Anderson was able to secure one for LEU.
He and a team drove through the mountains to pick up the ambulance and bring it back to Longmont. The vehicle was in need of several repairs, including a full front-end alignment, Anderson said.
Since the ambulance itself was donated, LEU was able to utilize the funds from the Rotary to rebrand the ambulance for LEU and to complete some minor repairs, Trujillo said.
“Without that funding, we just wouldn’t be able to put that ambulance into service,” Anderson said.
