Land donation helps Lakeside ambulance effort

Al and Cora Luna, longtime residents of Lakeside, have donated a two-acre lot to the Lakeside Quick Response Unit for a new ambulance hall.

The lot is about 500 feet west of the Lakeside Fire Hall the QRU has been sharing with the Somers Fire Department on Bills Road.

This property and the financial donations received over the last few years will allow construction to begin next spring on a new building to better serve the lower valley and west shore neighborhoods, according to a news release from the Lakeside QRU.

The QRU is planning a building that will have three garage bays to house the current ambulance and provide space for two more in the future.

There also will be overnight accommodations for staff that likely will be needed to provide 24-hour-a-day emergency coverage as the district grows.

The new building also will include a meeting facility for training and community functions. It will have more storage for supplies and equipment and room for growth. There also will be a permanent landing site for the ALERT helicopter at one end of the property.

Lakeside QRU officials thanked Al and Cora Luna for the land gift as well as Robert Howard, a Lakeside summer resident for many years who has been the largest single financial contributor to the building fund.

Bill and Larrie Blomgren, owners of the Edgewater RV Park, and Steve and Sheila Mathews, along with many others, raised money at summer benefits. In addition, the QRU medical team thanked all the generous residents and visitors of Somers, Lakeside, Rollins and the surrounding area who have made donations over the years.

Enough volunteer help has been offered and financial resources set aside to begin the first phase of site preparation and building construction.

The QRU hopes to move in to a partially finished building in fall 2010. Completing the building, landscaping and paving the helicopter landing site will be done in the future as donations and community support continue to come in.