Volunteer Service Needs More Funding
By: Whitney Ray
Updated: August 9, 2007
For 22 years Jeff Mason has volunteered his time to help save lives. Mason is the only paramedic with the Garfield Volunteer Ambulance Service. The team, made up of five volunteers, provides ambulance service to about 16,000 people living in a 125 square miles radius in the northeast corner of Benton County. The service began in 1981 when Rogers ambulance service quit providing care to the northeast corner of the county.
"When I first come on we were running like 40 to 50 calls a year, but last year we had 433,” said Mason.
The growing pains have cause the volunteers to ask for more money. Volunteers rely on fundraisers to collect money for the service. A vote next Tuesday could send more money to the service in the form of property tax. If approved the ambulance service could hire additional paramedics, buy more equipment, and better serve the community.
