All Parkview LaGrange County EMS ambulances will soon be equipped with power cots. In late December, Parkview LaGrange Hospital announced its receipt of a matching grant from the Olive B. Cole Foundation to purchase power cots for Parkview LaGrange County EMS. Members of the Shipshewana Retail Merchants Association (SRMA) embraced this cause at their annual meeting and charity auction held March 4, raising $12,000 in support of the EMS project.
“We, in the Shipshewana Retail Merchants Association pride ourselves in the service we provide for our community and all the guests who visit Shipshewana every year. We see the Parkview family as an extension of that service. We are proud to partner with Parkview to provide the new cots for the EMS service to our community and our guests,” said Gary Zehr, president of the SRMA.
SRMA vice-president Kevin Lambright agreed. “This was an easy choice. LaGrange County EMS touches all of us in one way or another through its service.”
In 2009, the Parkview LaGrange County EMS transported 1505 patients. Currently, the Parkview LaGrange County EMS has three power cots in service on its five EMS vehicles.
“We deeply appreciate the SRMA members’ support,” said Jen Will, coordinator of the Parkview LaGrange Foundation. “Their gift, along with others from the community, has made it possible for us to secure the matching monies made available through the Olive B. Cole Foundation grant and purchase power cots for the remaining two ambulances.”
The purpose of the Shipshewana Retail Merchants Association is to combine resources for advertising/marketing purposes, and to plan and promote retail business in a unified effort. The Shipshewana Retail Merchants Association is a not-for-profit corporation whose members consist of retail businesses in and around the Shipshewana community.
Parkview LaGrange Hospital is a not-for-profit community hospital and is licensed as a 25-bed critical access hospital to provide acute-care services to the people of LaGrange County and surrounding communities. In July of 2008, Parkview LaGrange opened its new, $25 million hospital facility. In addition to the full range of general acute care services offered by Parkview LaGrange, an electronic intensive care unit (eICU) with its eICU robot – a hallmark of all Parkview Health hospitals – has brought another, higher level of care to the people of LaGrange County. Current services include EMS and emergency care; ambulatory and inpatient surgery; endoscopy; medical-surgical care, a swing bed program and maternity. Ancillary and outpatient services offered include a full-service laboratory; advanced diagnostic imaging, including CT and a fixed MRI unit; rehabilitation therapy; a sleep lab; and physician specialty clinics (including cardiology, gynecology and orthopaedics). Parkview LaGrange is a member of Parkview Health, a family of hospitals and healthcare services covering a 15-county region in northeastern Indiana and western Ohio. With over 190 employees, Parkview LaGrange Hospital's mission is to provide quality care and to improve the health of the communities it serves.