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PAGE 10 A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, July 19, 2012 Rescue Squad looks back on 60 years of emergency care Subscription Drive begins Aug. 1 By Cristy Bertini Reporter -WEST BROOKFIELD- Rescue Squad President Paul Lupacchino maneuvers the brand new ambulance out of the bay. The vehicle, complete with all the specifi cations an EMT would ever need, cost $201,171 – and the best part, according to Lupacchino, is that it didn’t cost taxpayers one cent. It was purchased entirely with the squad’s funds. Now that the squad has another ambulance, storage has become an even <strong>big</strong>ger problem. Lupacchino asked the board of selectmen at a recent meeting if the rescue squad could purchase and place a temporary structure and tap into the fi re department’s resources to heat the structure, in order to house the older ambulance until an emergency complex is built. The board told him they would take the matter under advisement. Lupacchino, who is also the fi re chief, joined the rescue squad informally in 1974. “I was always hanging around the station, and back then, you just went on the calls,” he said. “In October of 1976, I was offi cially added to the roster, but as a fi refi ghter. I had to go to the civil defense director for permission. Back then, they gave us old raincoats and WWII helmets that we painted yellow, and that was our gear to respond to fi res. A lot has changed since then.” The West Brookfi eld Rescue Squad, Inc. was established in March of 1952. Prior to its conception, sick and injured residents were transported to the hospital by a taxi, hailed from Spencer or Ware. When time wasn’t on the patient’s side, a personal vehicle was used to transport them, belonging to a fi reman, policeman, or pretty much anyone that was willing to help. Not everyone had vehicles at that time. In March of 1952, Sherman C. McCarthy of High Street in West Brookfi eld, a business man who worked in North Brookfi eld, initiated the purchase of the town’s fi rst Ambulance. He formed a committee to raise the money needed to purchase the retiring North Brookfi eld Ambulance, which was a converted hearse from Lane Funereal Home. The cost of the ambulance was $150, and the West Brookfi eld Rescue Squad was formed by 12 charter members March, 1952. The membership was comprised of 12 fi refi ghters, who donated their time. The Rescue Squad was independent from the fi re department and the town. It operated as a non-for-profi t organization, operating solely on donations. In 1953, the ambulance garage was built behind the fi re station at its current location, at a cost of $1,500. The funding was donated by the town and appropriated at town meeting. The garage housed the ambulance and a boiler room for the fi re station. The meeting space was provided by the fi re department in the station’s meeting room. Insurance for the building was provided by the town, a line itemed article yearly worded as such, “Insurance for Ambulance Garage/Furnace Room”. Required training at the time included basic fi rst aid class and an advanced class in proper handling and transportation of patients in the ambulance. The training given by local physician, Dr. Louis Roy. By the end of the fi rst 15 years, the Rescue Squad was responding to an average of 73 calls per year. In 1967, the fi rst yearly fund drive was organized. During this time, emergency medical services were beginning to organize at the state level, and ambulance costs began to increase. The Rescue Squad needed more funding to operate and replace the current ambulance, thus beginning the fund drive. In 1968, the state started to required specifi c equipment to be carried on the ambulance. The Rescue Squad and EMS community faced its <strong>big</strong>gest challenges during the 1970s. A fi re station addition was needed and approved. The ambulance garage was taken down and the addition included three bays (which currently stand) and one of which was dedicated to housing the ambulance. The addition was completed in 1972; the same time the state began requiring that all ambulance services have certifi ed national emergency medical technicians as attendants, and ordered that as of 1977, two emergency medical technicians would be required on ambulances for transports. Immediate training was needed, but the funding wasn’t there. The state eventually sponsored classes in the area. The classes were held in Ware and Belchertown. The fee was $80 for 81 hours of class work, and members were not paid to take the training. In 1973, Mary Lane Hospital announced that a doctor would be on duty in the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week to handle all emergency calls. The town’s fi rst modular ambulance was purchased new, at a cost of $16,200. Bigger ambulances were needed to carry required equipment. Ambulance auto insurance increased to $556.90. The rescue squad memberships began to dwindle in 1975, as no one had 81 hours of time to donate and become certifi ed, along with another 64 hours every two years for recertifi cation. Dayshift help was at an all-time minimum. So, on Jan. 14, 1975 a vote was taken to accept non-fi re department individuals interested in joining the rescue squad. The age minimum was lowered 21 to 18 years of age and that membership was now open to both men and women. A new ambulance was purchased in 1999 at a cost of $120,000. Again, the squad used its own funds for the purchase. In 2001, the squad went forward with the necessary paperwork to change its charter to refl ect billing insurance companies and paying EMTs for work performed. This was done to help offset the mounting cost to keep the rescue squad running. In 2002, the squad changed the fund drive to a subscription drive. During the fund drive each year, the rescue squad sent out 1,800 fl yers to all town residents and the average response was 245 returned donations totaling approximately $24,500, by Dec. 31 of that year. The subscription drive is mailed to 1,800 town residents with a return Subscription total of 593 responses. The subscription drive raised $17,620, plus additional donations of $10,362, for a total amount of $27,982, also by Dec. 31. West Brookfi eld residents with a subscription have their co-pays and deductibles waved, a secondary insurance policy for ambulance services. Without a subscription, it is a requirement from the state and federal government that patients be balanced billed. The subscription drive offers residents with no insurance, ambulance services at no additional cost above the subscription. No tax dollars are used to run the ambulance at its current level and availability. The squad provides for its own EMT courses, pre-employment physicals $450, compensation per call for its members, radios and pagers per technician, jump kits and ambulance maintenance. The squad also provides CPR training at the elementary school at no cost, and oxygen and supply equipment to the police department. Lupacchino said that the squad used to pay $700 – $900 a year to the town to carry the auto and liability insurance for the Rescue Squad on the group policy, but the town no longer offers the squad this option. The cost to provide coverage for the ambulance, and liability insurance is $6,000, plus workmen’s comp for employees costs another $2,000 per year. The Rescue Squad answered 580 calls last year. As far as future goals for the squad, Lupacchino said he wants to continue to provide the best care possible for his residents and anyone else for that matter, in need. �� Gates & Snack Bar Open @ 6:30 FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY JULY 20, 21 & 22 � Tom Hardy Liam Neeson Christian Bale Joseph Gordon-Levitt Anne Hathaway THE DARK KNIGHT RISES TURLEY PUBLICATIONS SUBMITTED PHOTOS The fi rst West Brookfi eld ambulance with Leon Adams at the wheel – purchased with donations from the North Brookfi eld Emergency Squad – 1952. Shown 1 st @ 8:35 Adventure PG-13 Shown 2 nd www.northfielddrivein.com Northfield - Hinsdale Road (Rt. 63) & DARK SHADOWS Johnny J Depp Mi Michelle Pfeiffer Helena elen Bonham Carter Eva Green Comedy ome PG-13 PG- � � RAIN OR MOON SHINE �� (603) 239-4054
The original charter members and ambulance purchase committee (1952). (L to r) Harry Bosquet, Sherman McCarthy, Leon Adams, Percy Cregan, Warren Gresty, George Gilman, Morton Sampson, Elmer Vezina and Peter Brady. Absent from photo – Joseph Ellis, George Gillman, Jr., and David Side. George Gillman Jr. and Leon Parker in front of the 1959 ambulance (photo taken 1964). (L to r) Membership in 1967 - David Carlson, Alan Sterling, William Prizio, Leon Adams, Ernest Vezina, Leon Parker, George Gillman, Jr. The brand new ambulance, purchased by the West Brookfi eld Rescue Squad - using its own funds – was delivered last week. Sturbridge Federated Church 63rd Annual Auction August 11, 2012 at 10:00 am The Oldest Continuous Church Auction in the Nation! Featured items: • Publick House Chair #41 • Sturbridge Chair #18 • Sideboards • Paintings by Cil of Boston • Boxes • Chests • Tables • Mirrors • Chairs • Tools • Dressers • Trunks • Rockers Saturday Auction Preview Bake Sale Craft Sale Food Booth 9:00am ON BEAUTIFUL STURBRIDGE TOWN COMMON • Desks • Silent Auction Baskets Robert H. Glass Auctioneers Over 200 items Always the Second Saturday in August Under the Tent – Rain or Shine! For more photos go to www.sturfed.org A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, July 19, 2012 PAGE 11 Leon Adams in front of the ambulance garage in 1969. August Fund Drive in 1970 – Leon Adams, Peter Wrobel and George Gillman. William Anderson and Robert Frew with the state-required equipment, 1968. Car Show Family Fun Day & Car Show Saturday, July 21, 2012 Rain Date: July 28 Callahan Football Field Town Beach Cottage St. West Brookfi eld, MA Car entry: $8 Spectators free Donations are appreciated! Clowning For Kidz Foundation Trophies to the top fi fty cars, trucks, motorcycles Show opens: 10am • Judging: 1pm • Trophies: 3pm 50/50 Raffl e • Music • Food 2012 Harley Davidson Street Glide Raffl e Tickets
Page 1 and 2: The ONLY local coverage in Brookfie
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