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Farm Credit Services of North Dakota has awarded Trinity Health Foundation $20,000 as a recipient of the Rural Community Grant Fund (RCGF). The grant funds are being used to help purchase three Lifepak 15 heart monitor/defibrillator units for Community Ambulance Service (CAS).

Al Evon, director of Trinity Health Foundation, and Amy Thomas, director of Trinity Health Transport Services, accepted the check, noting that the Lifepak 15 devices are an upgrade from the former units, enabling CAS to remain current with the latest technology. Lifepak units are rechargeable and portable, and have a lifespan of 8-10 years.

“The Lifepaks are necessary equipment for any unit providing critical care or performing any life-saving procedure,” Thomas said. “With Lifepak, we’re able to acquire a 12-lead EKG in the field and transmit it to the Emergency/Trauma Center. That lets doctors identify a STEMI heart attack immediately and activate protocols without delay. It’s a technology that saves lives and improves outcomes, not only for Minot patients but those in surrounding communities.”

Trinity Health is the region’s premier healthcare provider with a substantial compliment of healthcare services in the Bakken region. Community Ambulance Service provides advanced ALS ambulance service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the City of Minot and nearly 2,000 square miles in the surrounding area. CAS operates the largest Advanced Life Support (ALS) service in northwest North Dakota, performing approximately 10,000 responses per year with a total fleet of six ambulance vehicles.

“We are proud to provide grant funds to Community Ambulance to assist in purchasing Lifepak units with the goal of decreasing cardiac mortality in the region,” said Dan Beyer, SVP and Chief Lending Officer with Farm Credit Services of North Dakota. “Ambulance staff need to have the best life-saving equipment available to perform timely critical procedures and monitoring on patients during transport as well as when it’s continued in a critical care or hospital setting,” Beyer adds.

Farm Credit Services of North Dakota, Farm Credit Services of Mandan and AgriBank, established the Rural Community Grant Fund to assist in the implementation and development of projects and programs in communities and rural areas in western North Dakota which have been impacted by mineral exploration.

The Rural Community Grant Fund is currently accepting applications for future funding requests. Interested parties can apply at www.farmcreditnd.com.