SoulsMobile ready to roll throughout HRM

HALIFAX, N.S. — It’s a case of making a wish out loud and the universe listening.

Michelle Porter, CEO of Souls Harbour Rescue Mission, was being interviewed on a radio show not long ago when she was asked what she’d love to see next for the non-profit.

“I said I would love to see an ambulance as a crisis diversion unit,” she said. “Then low and behold, the lady in charge of the ambulances called me.”

EHS, in collaboration with other partners, has donated a decommissioned ambulance to Souls Harbour. It arrived on Wednesday and it’s affectionately known as the SoulsMobile.

“It was like a miracle,” Porter said. 

She said EHS took out the red lights but left the white lights, which will be handy when it’s at work in the dark. 

“They wrapped it with our logo and a little bit of trimming at their cost and inside they built us a custom bench so that we can transport people, if need be, to say, a local shelter,” she said.

One of the main uses of the SoulsMobile will be to hand out supplies to people who need them like blankets, food, hygiene products and others.

“What we’d like to do is go into impoverished areas in Halifax and Dartmouth and predominantly Lower Sackville and meet people’s basic immediate needs if we see them, maybe that’s a powerbar or maybe that’s a pair of boots that don’t have a hole,” she said, adding they’ll distribute information of available support services.

She said they technically don’t need a special driver’s licence to drive it, but they’ll likely upgrade anyway.

The lifecycle of EHS vehicles is about nine years, according to a press release, and the vehicles are typically returned to the manufacturer, but they can be used for other purposes. 

According to the release, the donation is the result of a collaboration between EHS, the Department of Health and Wellness, Tri-Star Industries, Emergency Medical Care Inc. (EMCI), and Souls Harbour Rescue Mission.

“While retired EHS vehicles are not generally available for donation, any requests are screened closely and must be approved by the government and the vendor to be used in a specific manner that is deemed appropriate,” was written in the release.