Additional Mutual Aid Ambulances to Support Hospitals Across State

Governor Mike Parson announced Friday that Missouri is tripling the number of mutual aid ambulances that provide long-haul patient transfers to help reduce the rising COVID-19 caseloads straining hospitals. Thirty ambulances and more than 60 trained personnel are arriving in five regions of the state – including Region B, northeast Missouri. The new ambulance strike teams, provided in response to a request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, include 20 advanced life-support ambulances, five basic life-support ambulances, five specialty care ambulances, and required medical and support personnel. They began transporting patients over the weekend. The teams are tasked with operating anywhere there is a critical need in Missouri through September 5th. Governor Parson stressed that vaccination is the best way to prevent serious illness from COVID-19, and slow down the spread of the aggressive and transmissible delta variant.