Powell Valley Hospital officials are hoping to add a sprinter van to its fleet of ambulances, seeing it in part as a more economical way to transport patients to Billings.

A sprinter van “will provide more comfort for the patients and make the transfers easier for us,” Payton Allerheiligen of Powell Valley Healthcare explained to Park County commissioners last week.

The Powell Hospital District is seeking a $47,775 grant from the Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board to cover half the cost of the roughly $95,550 vehicle. Commissioners unanimously agreed to sign a letter of support for the district’s request.

“The hospital is an essential facility for the health of our residents in our community and the public health entirely,” said the commissioners’ letter, adding that “approval of this [grant] application will ensure the purchase can be funded and will provide Powell Hospital District with the needs to better serve our patients and provide the best level of care possible.”

If everything goes as planned, the new van will be used for 911 calls, just like the hospital’s four standard ambulances. However, it will become the primary vehicle for the roughly 250 patients a year who are shuttled from the Powell hospital to larger tertiary facilities, like Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings.

Using the lighter sprinter van “would be much more cost effective for us and it would keep our [standard] ambulances in service much longer and cut down on maintenance,” Allerheiligen told commissioners. Beyond being cheaper than an ambulance, she added that the van — which she described as “basically just a van equipped with medical equipment” — “will have much more space for patients to go in and out.”

The State Loan and Investment Board — made up of Wyoming’s five statewide elected officials — will consider the grant request on June 16. The state board also helped fund the Powell Hospital District’s last ambulance, providing $68,250 toward the roughly $154,000 purchase in 2018.