Award for Harrison Community Fire Department Equips Firefighters with New AEDs and Medical Supplies

PAMCMF is proud to announce a grant of $12,750 to the Harrison Community Fire Department, funding the purchase of 3 AED devices and 5 fully stocked medical supply bags for their fleet.

Harrison Community Fire Department's 5 newly stocked medical bags, ready to be placed into service.

A big coverage area with limited resources

Harrison Community Fire Department protects the second largest coverage area in the state — 9 townships plus the City of Harrison, spanning over 300 square miles and serving roughly 14,000 residents. Community members are typically covered by just one ambulance, when staffing allows, and response times can exceed 30 to 40 minutes when units have to respond from the City of Clare and Isabella County.Earlier this year, Harrison Fire updated its response policy to be automatically dispatched to cardiac arrests within their coverage area — but without an AED and medical supplies on hand at every scene, firefighters often had to return to the station to retrieve equipment, slowing down response times. When limited resources were already tied up on one medical call, the department often didn't have what it needed to respond to a second.

A look inside one of the new medical bags, configured identically across the fleet for faster training and more efficient response.

Equipping the fleet, standardizing the response

With this grant, Harrison Community firefighters now have 5 stocked medical bags and 3 AEDs, giving personnel the tools to respond to a medical emergency — or care for a fellow firefighter — regardless of which truck they're in. Each bag is stocked and configured identically, with supplies for bleeding control, airway management, stabilization, and oxygen, so firefighters can train faster and deploy resources more efficiently no matter which unit responds.

Fast action, hands-on training

What's stood out most about this grant is how quickly Harrison Community turned funding into action. The department moved fast — ordering the AEDs and supplies, stocking the bags, and getting them into service. They also held department-wide training to walk firefighters through the new equipment and response expectations, so every responder could use it with confidence in the field.

Harrison Community expressed how grateful and excited they were for the support, sharing that having this standardized equipment in the hands of their firefighters — on every call — will make a real, lasting difference for the community they serve.

PAMCMF is proud to support Harrison Community Fire Department's commitment to strengthening emergency care in one of Mid-Michigan's most rural and underserved regions.

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Photo credit: Harrison Community Fire Department