Building Stronghold’s Ambulance Boat
Through the team’s eyes: building the Ambulance boat
Last week, we announced our new ambulance boat, part of Stronghold Rescue & Relief’s donor-supported ambulance system in war-torn Burma.
The boat will help us provide patients with emergency critical care and cut hours of transport time. These few hours are the difference between life and death for many of our patients.
While Stronghold’s supporters ultimately made the boat ambulance a possibility, Stronghold’s team in Burma built it into a reality.
The Burma Army built a hydro-electric dam, and the resulting man-made lake drowned out thousands of hectares of land and swallowed dozens of villages belonging to the Karen people. The lake also sits right at the edge of one of Stronghold’s medical evacuation routes, obstructing our team’s emergency medical response in Burma.
Before the boat existed, a patient — who might be a landmine victim or suffering from shrapnel wounds (like the young monk boy featured last week) — would have to lay for hours at the edge of the lake waiting for help until a boat could be found to cross the lake.
The need for emergency medical relief is rising with every strike by the Burma Army. We needed to cut these transport times in half with an ambulance boat.
Stronghold assigned our top field agent, a former US Army Ranger — callsign “Denali” — to handle the important task. (Denali’s personal info has been redacted to protect his identity.)
Getting Started
Denali assembled one of Stronghold’s local ambulance crews to help spearhead the project.
Their supplies would be limited and they would have to gather a skilled workforce on the fly — but embracing creative solutions to save lives is the heart of our global work.
After four arduous days of travel with supplies to the site of construction, and a few days of finalizing the plan, the team got to work on a three week timeline.
As part of Stronghold’s policy of Charity with Dignity, the team hired local carpenters who traveled in to the construction site from a distant village.
Denali hired a novice welder as well — the only available welder in the area.
And the team worked with local tribal leaders to locate and source the hard-to-find metal needed to complete the boat.
THREE GENERATORS Later…
Welding requires power, and power requires a generator.
Our team went through three generators to power the welders.
The first generator the Stronghold team brought in died from the extreme heat and humidity. So, a local village came together to loan us their generator.
After about three days, that one died too.
Finally, a local tribal leader from yet another village brought out his generator, which lasted long enough for the Stronghold team to finish all of the welding on the boat — before it also died.
(Yes, three brand new generators are at the top of Stronghold’s list of supplies to bring in.)
Throughout the process, the Stronghold team observed the resiliency of the Karen people and their ability to adapt to every challenge, find solutions, and their strong desire see this project through to its completion.
“Everybody learned on the fly to help their people,” Denali said. “They know how much it’s going to help long-term, because they see our ambulances working now. So people are really open to helping with everything, from bringing us food or just coming to the site to say ‘hello.’“
This trust and enthusiasm for Stronghold’s projects is one of the greatest achievements of our work in Burma. The Karen people see Stronghold’s “Charity With Dignity” approach in action through our Karen-run medical care, our support of local infrastructure and people, our dedication to maintain our projects long-term, and our focus of enabling the people to take care of themselves.
The Launch
After three weeks of sawing, welding, and painting, the team finished the boat at night. They took it for a test spin the next morning:
Stronghold’s new ambulance boat features:
Beds for two critically injured patients, complete with IVs and oxygen tanks.
A qualified, well-equipped, and dedicated crew on-call for patients 24/7.
A stockpile of extra medical supplies for mass casualty scenarios and for resupplying medics who drop off patients at the boat.
Extra litters for patients who are non-ambulatory.
Lights on the boat to enable night medical evacuations.
As the only medical boat in East Burma, Stronghold’s new ambulance is filling a massive gap in the emergency medical care system in a war-torn place — saving lives that otherwise would have been lost.
All of this is only possible because of our generous supporters.
You are helping us save lives in Burma, right now.
Thank you.