The Wagner Foundation of Wisconsin, USA along with concerned Rotarians (Arsenio Burgos, John Woods, Philip Zuniga, Yvette Burks, Marcelo Coyi MD) established a Non- Profit, Non-Governmental Organization: Belize Emergency Response Team (BERT)
Purpose: To provide qualified, equipped ambulance service to the country of Belize.
Mr. and Mrs. Wagner became involved in Belize since the early 90’s assisting Belize through the Wings of Hope Air Ambulance Service. Wings of Hope service in Belize always had a Belize City Rotary Club affiliation.
In 1996, the Wagners saw the need in Belize for a land base emergency response system. (The Government of Belize through the Ministry of Health had ambulances and drivers assigned to Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, central referral hospital of the country), with the service providing mostly inter-hospital transfers; emergency response was not a priority. Government operated ambulances were often non-operational and the personnel were not all trained as Emergency Medical Technicians (E.M.T.)
