STANLEY (AP) - Oil is bringing prosperity, but along with the good times come some headaches.

In Stanley, the ambulance crew is being strained by demands for service, and is looking for a little help.

"With all the (oil) activity, our demand has just about doubled for the rides," said John Caranicas.

Caranicas said only he and squad leader Debbie Johnson were trained outside of Stanley's own training classes.

"Everybody else was trained in Stanley Ambulance Service classes," he said. "So we do have (emergency medical technicians), but we need more."

Caranicas said the ambulance service also would like a new building, but that is proving difficult.

"It keeps getting delayed and delayed," he said. "We'd like to get a different one where you can wash the (ambulance) units and have a classroom in it, instead of using the conference room in the town hall."

Johnson said a new building will cost about $600,000, and together with some limited city and state funds the ambulance squad can come up with only about half that amount. The service held a fundraiser and sent letters to oil companies seeking money to buy some equipment.

"We only had one company that gave us anything," Johnson said. "This was a $14,000 piece of equipment. They gave us $500."

Johnson said the ambulance squad has responded to oil rigs to handle everything from medical emergencies like chest pains and a broken shoulder to a lightning strike, and a fatality.

"We've got a rig about every half mile now and trucks coming out of our ears," Caranicas said.

The service is averaging about 23 runs per month, with a little more than a handful of EMTs. Two of them also drive school buses.

"You can call all you want for an ambulance, but unless you have people manning the thing and some effort going into it, it just isn't going to happen," Caranicas said. "And if it doesn't happen here, it's going to take an hour to get somebody from Minot. It would be nice if everybody realizes that."