The equipment will be taken to New York then shipped to the earthquake-ravaged country in the spring.

By Emily Opilo, Of The Morning Call9:56 p.m. EST, December 27, 2012

Two retired ambulances from the Lehigh Valley have been donated to a city in Haiti to assist with medical treatment in a region damaged by a 2010 earthquake.

The equipment, donated by Allentown and Cetronia Ambulance corps, will be transported to New York City and then shipped to Carrefour, Haiti, in the spring, officials said in a news release Thursday.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and a team from the city’s Lifechurch visited Carrefour last year to assemble a donated playground in the city. Carrefour is a commune in the area of Port-au-Prince.

The donated vehicles include a 1997 Ford E-450 equipped with a stretcher and spare first aid supplies from Cetronia. It was taken out of service in November.

Allentown has contributed a 2002 Ford E-450 with a hydraulic lift for the main oxygen cylinder and a power inverter. Lehigh Valley Health Network donated a stretcher, and Sacred Heart Hospital contributed a stretcher and two oxygen tanks.

Allentown’s ambulance was taken out of service in October when it was replaced by a 2012 Chevrolet ambulance. During city budget hearings, officials complained that the Ford ambulances were difficult to work with.

Bryan Fritz, EMS operations manager, said some of the newer Fords have injector problems, but the donated model has an older motor that should run for a while, he said.

Several area firefighters will travel to Haiti next month to train personnel to use recently donated fire equipment, including a retired fire truck from Emmaus. The Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority will donate reflective bunker pants, coats and boots. Allentown has already donated bunker gear, gloves and water cans, officials said.