An Afterlife for Ambulances in Afghanistan

When you think of what it takes to save the lives of injured Afghan civilians, I’ll bet that Hingham, Mass., isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. But this town south of Boston founded in 1633 as "Bare Cove" (an early nudist colony, no doubt) is playing an important role in providing medical care to those suffering in Afghanistan’s violence.

It’s all the doing of Kevin Paicos, Hingham's new town administrator, who has done a tour in Afghanistan as a medic with his National Guard Special Forces unit. While there, he had an arresting experience: after stabilizing a boy who’d been hit by a truck, he asked for an ambulance. The response that came back from the Afghan soldiers:

“What’s an ambulance?”

In his previous post as an administrator for the town of Ashburnham, Paicos knew that a municipal ambulance was only in service for a few years before it was retired. At that point, the state wouldn’t certify it any longer despite it being in excellent shape, and the vehicle would be sold into developing-country markets or turned into scrap.

He asked Ashburnham fire chief Paul J. Zbikowski to find a retired ambulance he could send to Afghanistan. The search turned one up — then another two, donated by nearby towns of Fitchburg and Norton — and “Ambulances for Afghanistan” sprang to life.

Paicos and his group of collaborators are moving forward with nonprofit certification and have already raised about $150,000 for the cause. Their goal: to donate an ambulance to every city in Afghanistan and to train and pay local citizens to use them.