Magrath crew going strong
Southern Region Emergency Services Society was formed in August 1992 by a dedicated group of individuals who saw a need within the community to have better emergency equipment and training available to assist the existing services.
Ken Hoibak, President and co-founder of the Society, says the society only assists, not replaces, other existing services in the area.
The Society provides services to the communities of Magrath, Del Bonita, Welling, Spring Coulee, Raymond and Cardston. It covers the areas of extrication at motor vehicle collisions, ice and water rescue, specialized rescue, ground search and rescue and lighting for accident scenes of law enforcement agencies.
The Society also provides community awareness, demos of the equipment, and tours for schools of the Ambulance and Rescue Truck.
Along with the RCMP, the society provides injury prevention programs and training in First Aid and CPR.
The organization has very close ties with local ambulance, fire, and RCMP services and is dispatched through the local hospital with the ambulance as needed.
SRESS is purely volunteer - in every sense of the word. There are no paid staff. All fund-raising is done on a volunteer basis. There is no office spaced rented and the Society uses the local fire hall to hold meetings and training sessions for its volunteers.
In the last two years, the Society has tallied 6,000 volunteer hours, not including on-call time.
Currently, the Society - the most highly equipped unit south of Calgary - has the only Rapid Response Rescue Unit in this area.
The unit is equipped with the Jaws of Life and other hydraulic equipment, air bags, rope rescue, generators and lighting.
The Society recently purchase an 18-foot rescue boat with 75-horsepower jet drive.
All of the equipment was purchased with funds raised by volunteers or donations.
Bingos, casinos, and auctions were held to raise the funds.
