After six years of service, a former County of Simcoe Paramedic Services ambulance will continue to serve local residents of as a patient transportation vehicle for the Living Wish Foundation.
During the donation presentation this morning at the Simcoe County Administration Building in Midhurst, Cal Patterson, a former county warden and board member for the Living Wish Foundation, received the keys from Warden George Cornell.
“Our group is granting wishes to people that are going to be passing away soon,” said Patterson. “This (vehicle) is an opportunity to have a patient that is passing on to complete something they wanted to do. This vehicle gives us the opportunity to transport them from the hospice to wherever they want to go.”
The Living Wish Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that is entirely volunteer-driven, helping terminally ill patients in Simcoe County maintain hope and enjoy life. They honour patients’ end-of-life wishes by providing medical supervision and transportation to special events and meaningful places.
The group has granted two large-scale wishes and three smaller wishes so far since they formed in December 2018, and only plan to go further. The group is hoping to grant one wish a month going forward.
In regards to the ask, Cornell said the county looks at multiple requests before making a decision on where the decommissioned ambulances should go.
“We look at the need and the request, and evaluate it based on that,” said Cornell. “This worked out perfectly.”