Riveras home town gets first ambulances service

WHILE the Legend Series baseball event between the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins in Panama CITY grabbed the headlines last weekend. residents of the small fishing town where Mariano Rivera grew up, were celebrating the arrival of their first ambulance service.

Spearheaded by the Mariano Rivera Foundation, Mohawk Ambulance Service , Schenectady , New York and Air and Marine Cargo International, combined to provide and deliver two ambulances to the impoverished fishing village of Puerto Caimito where the legendary Yankees closer Rivera, first threw a ball. The ambulances arrived just before the start of the Legend Series in honor of the recently retired Rivera.

Two 8-cylinder Ford vehicles, valued at approximately $10,000 each and equipped with Stryker stretchers valued at $5,000 each, were sent from New York and embarked in Miami for the four-day trip to Puerto Caimito. Besides the Mohawk donation to the Mariano Rivera Foundation of the full value of the equipment, the cost of freight was donated by Air Marine Cargo International, led by its owner, Immaculate Finch .
Mariano Rivera , son of a fishing boat captain , grew up in the impoverished town of 17,000, near Chorrera, where often there was not enough money for balls, gloves and other sports equipment . At age 20 , after years of playing in makeshift camps and as a member of the baseball team of Western Panama , Rivera was hired by the Yankees for $3,000.
Today the town's residents face shortage of first aid supplies and medical equipment and until last weekend had no ambulance service , and in times of emergency turning to friends and neighbors with cars or begging the police to transport them to a hospital in the nearby town , four miles away,
Rivera’s own foundation works to improve the lives of his countrymen and It was through the efforts of the foundation, that the Mohawk Ambulance Service , based in New York, the adopted home of Mariano .
"We are grateful to Mohawk Ambulance Service for their gift to Puerto Caimito, Rivera said. " The ambulances will be put to good use and will undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on medical and first aid needs of the community. "