More than one year after GW purchased an ambulance, EMeRG is still waiting for governmental approval to use it on campus.

The ambulance, which the University purchased for $7,000, last year is sitting idle in a parking lot 30 miles away from Foggy Bottom. The University continues to wait for approval from the D.C. Fire Department to put the vehicle into use.

“(W)e are eager to have the ambulance placed into service as soon as possible,” said Robert Chernak, senior vice president for Student and Academic Support Services. “The delay to date has more to do with getting approval from the D.C. (Fire Department).”

The GW Office of Risk Management spent more than six months assessing the benefits and downfalls of allowing EMeRG to operate an ambulance.

UPD Chief Dolores Stafford said progress is being made with the DCFD despite delays.

“UPD has been working with the city to obtain all of the necessary approvals to operate the ambulance,” Stafford wrote in a e-mail. “There have been personnel changes in city agencies that have delayed our success, but we have had some positive meetings lately and are hopeful that we will be able to move this process forward in the near future.”

Stafford said the ambulance is necessary for EMeRG.

“They are a certified (basic life support) service and it will allow the group to provide the full range of BLS services to the GW community,” she said. “They currently can’t provide the full range of BLS services without an ambulance. They can’t carry all the necessary equipment in the (SUV) and they can’t provide transportation to patients who can’t walk to the (SUV).”