By Gwen ChamberlainIf you have never needed an ambulance, consider yourself lucky. But when you need one, you want it to arrive quickly with well-trained and experienced staff on board. Yates County Legislators are taking steps to establish a county- wide municipal ambulance service, in a process that began last year with plans to have two professionally staffed ambulances in service this June. The new service will require hiring full and part time staff to ensure consistent and adequate coverage of emergency medical services in Yates County. For decades, the Yates County community has relied on an army of dedicated volunteers with a few paid professionals to provide Basic and Advanced Life Support care. But that army is dwindling. This new service will bring welcome relief for the volunteers who have been providing this care through the existing Middlesex Valley, Dundee, Penn Yan, and Naples Ambulance organizations. Some might declare a June operational goal means Office of Emergency Services staff are working in a tightly compressed timeline, and that might well be true. But the Penn Yan community established a new volunteer ambulance service under more severe deadline pressures more than 50 years ago. Here’s how it all happened. In July 1971, the commercial service that had been providing ambulance services in the Penn Yan area notified local officials it would be discontinuing operations on Jan. 1, 1972. Local officials had six months to find a solution. On Aug. 18, 1971, Calvin Backstrom, fairly new to the area, but a strong community- minded individual, convinced members of the Penn Yan Jaycees to take on the challenge. The next day, the supervisors of Barrington, Benton, Jerusalem, Milo, and Torrey commissioned a committee of Backstrom, Bob Mason, Taylor Fitch, and Bob Fitzwater to investigate the needs. Within three weeks, on Sept. 7, the committee reported on its findings, and made recommendation to establish a volunteer non-profit ambulance service for the Penn Yan area. An 11-member board of directors was recruited, and assignments were made. Within days, a detailed plan was finalized and approved by the town supervisors on Sept. 24, less than 60 days from the announcement from the commercial provider. The committee now had three months to formalize the organization of the new ambulance corps, develop a financial operations plan, recruit and train volunteers, purchase and equip ambulances, and locate and furnish a headquarters. When Fred Thomas, one of the original directors, spoke at the dedication of the current Penn Yan Ambulance Corps building, he said, “With two months to go before the end of the year, Stan Vear had to locate and equip two vehicles and Bob Flynn had to locate and train 40 volunteer driver-attendants. Cal directed me as financial director to raise $28,000 to finance the formation. The entire board and volunteer attorney Wes Palmer were assigned the task of writing by-laws, rules and regulations, contracts with townships, incorporation papers, insurance and communication licenses.” By Oct. 13, with limited security and no guarantee of success, the organization’s loan was approved at Lincoln Rochester Bank and on Oct. 14, two ambulances were purchased. Training classes with 54 students began Oct. 18, just two months after formation of the Jaycees committee. On Nov. 5, 4,000 pieces of literature with membership applications were mailed and by the end of the year $20,000 (that’s equivalent to about $148,000 today) in associate memberships and donations had been collected. On Dec. 5, the first directors and officers were elected, and Cal Backstrom was chosen to lead the corps through its first year of operations out of the old Penn Yan firehouse. Full operations began on Jan. 1 with 41 active driver-attendants from the building on North Main Street using two equipped vehicles and operating with money in the bank, reported Thomas. The new Yates County ambulance service will augment the existing services already in operation. At the March 7 Public Safety Committee meeting, Emergency Services Coordinator Ryan Bailey told legislators two used ambulances have been delivered from the Philadelphia area and are located at the county highway department in Benton. When in service, the ambulances will be staged at different locations around the county. Brian Winslow, Office of Emergency Services director, said state officials will visit for an inspection in April and the office is currently advertising for full time and part time paramedics and emergency medical technicians. For more information about the paramedic and EMT positions available in Yates County, visit https://mycivilservice. yatescounty. org/jobopps. Do you have feedback on this or a suggestion for a future column? Feel free to email me at gchamberlain27@gmail. com.
