LAKEVILLE — The Lakeville Fire Department recently secured grant money for the purchase of a new essential tool for first responders.

On June 28, the fire department announced the purchase of a motorized stair chair, a device that lifts patients up and down stairways safely. The purchase was funded by a $23,800 grant from the Southcoast Health 2025 EMS Support Program which aims to support emergency service agencies who operate under tight budgets.

Lakeville Fire Department Chief Michael O’Brien said the new device reduces the risk of injury to first responders and the patients they serve.

O’Brien said the Southcoast Health grant was competitive. The grant was awarded to agencies that demonstrated a need for efficient emergency services operations that minimize risk to patients and responders.

“We were able to demonstrate the potential cost and benefit of the device,” O’Brien said. “A single injury for firefighters could be hundreds of thousands of dollars across the town, so the chair will pay for itself many times over.”

O’Brien added the device is a “perfect fit” for responding to multi-story apartment buildings with no elevator access.

The motorized stair chair can be used in any house, and is secured to stairways with a track system. The device measures its own weight and movement speed which allows first responders to set the track and guide the chair up and down stairways, said O’Brien. Without the chair lift, first responders must manually lift patients up and down stairs, incurring a danger to both patients and responders.

“Fire injuries to firefighters are extremely expensive, so this device is designed to minimize risk of injury to firefighters,” said O’Brien. “Correspondingly, the patients are safer as well because they're less likely to be dropped.”