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In need of rescue
Lack of volunteers takes toll on Millboro squad
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | There's not a lot of extra room in the back of an ambulance with the portable stretcher locked into the center of the floor. The bins are stocked with everything from bandages to a defibrillator. (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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WARM SPRINGS - If you're considering ways to contribute to your community, there's a volunteer group in Millboro that could certainly use support.
The Millboro Area Rescue Squad is suffering from a lack of trained Emergency Medical Technicians and other volunteers to maintain medical services, and without them the fate of the squad remains precarious.
At the moment, the squad is not authorized to respond due to a failed state inspection - a situation members hope to resolve in the next several days. But it's one example of how meeting state requirements can put a strain on volunteer based organizations like this one.
Bath County depends on volunteer fire and rescue squads, and MARS is the primary source for emergencies in the easternmost area of the county. When the squad is suffering, the whole community suffers, said MARS squad president Tom Duquette. In addition to the critical need for EMTs, the squad needs drivers and support personnel.
 | | Accidents can cause the release of fuels and other toxic materials. The MARS crash truck is equipped with materials and equipment for absorbing and retaining spills. A number of MARS volunteers including John Hodge have received HAZMAT training. (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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John Hodge, chief of the MARS squad, added, "We desperately need EMTs." The problem is particularly acute during working hours Monday through Friday, he added.
For a rescue squad to respond to a call, the state requires at least two people arrive on the scene. One must be a certified driver and the other must be a certified EMT over 18. Before an ambulance can roll from the building, the squad must have "a solid commitment" from an EMT, said Duquette.
With only five EMTs currently on the MARS volunteer roll, most of whom hold day jobs, finding an EMT to respond can be difficult, said Hodge. When no one is available from MARS, the 911 dispatcher calls Goshen or Hot Springs.
Even if Hot Springs has a driver, EMT, and ambulance available, the minimum response time to arrive in the Millboro area from over the mountain is 45 minutes, said Duquette. Add in the wait time while MARS tries to find a local EMT, and a potentially life-threatening, life-saving hour can pass before care begins.
Duquette points out rural areas such as Millboro are tough to serve with emergency services "because it is very spread out." He must drive nine miles from his home on Mill Creek to reach the squad building.
From the building, the call can be to a location anywhere from the southern edge of the county on Route 42 to Deerfield. If a trip to the hospital is required, additional time passes before the patient reaches a doctor.
With more volunteers available, the squad should be able to respond faster with volunteers, thus saving precious time while the patient waits for treatment.
MARS currently has about 15 active members. This includes five EMTs along with certified drivers and support people. While the squad is particularly looking for additional EMTs, it also needs more drivers and people who can be available to lend an extra hand, do paper work, stock vehicles and other administrative task.
"We don't expect this is going to be their life," Duquette says of volunteers. All that is expected is for volunteers to attend an hour-long meeting a month and be available to answer some calls.
"I can go on vacation," said Duquette, to illustrate the flexibility volunteers have in selecting which calls to answer with times he turned off his radio because of family visits, or being busy with projects or other obligations.
"Some people feel every time the tone goes off they have to answer the call," Duquette said. That isn't true, he added. The more volunteers available, the less burden the calls are on everyone, he said.
Duquette understands people have a lot on their plate, but he said the squad needs good people. He credits the supervisors and local generosity with making it possible for the squad to have a good building, good vehicles, and equipment.
The squad added to the building three years ago with space for a large meeting room for training and community activities, a full kitchen, and office space. The fourbay garage is large enough for the three fully equipped ambulances and the crash truck it acquired two years ago. The squad also has a Chevrolet SUV utility vehicle.
The crash truck is equipped with materials and tools necessary to handle small spills of hazardous materials, extra lights, a chain saw, back boards, generator and in the rear bay, hydraulic and electric powered sheers and jacks, better known as "jaws of life."
Hodge, along with four other squad members, is certified in basic hazardous materials (HAZMAT) handling. The other equipment on the truck, including the jaws of life, also require special training.
There are opportunities Hodge says for volunteers to be trained and certified in a variety of additional areas, including cave rescue, HAZMAT, and search and rescue. EMTs can continue their training and certification from Advanced Life Support (ALS) all the way up to paramedic.
But those advanced certifications are not necessary to meet the current needs in Millboro. Additional EMTs, especially people available during week days, will go a long way toward providing the services necessary in the eastern part of the county.
Volunteers don't have to be in perfect condition, either. Hodge has a tracheostomy - a permanent opening in his throat to enable him to breath. Duquette referred to Hodge as "disabled," and Hodge quickly corrected him, saying, "I'm not disabled." And certainly he is not.
Hodge places his finger over the opening in his throat to speak, but even so, is easy to understand and can communicate on the phone and radio. He lost his vocal cords to throat cancer and has a voice prosthesis that allows him to speak.
"People took care of me when I was sick," Hodge said, and now, "I want to return the favor." It is obvious as he speaks that his volunteer efforts are, as he said, "very rewarding."
There are no perks, no pay, no benefits. "We do it to benefit the community," said Duquette.
"What you get is an enormous amount of satisfaction," he said. "You get a good feeling from helping people."
Duquette has two artificial knees and a replaced hip, but is going for EMT training. "I might not be able to do it," he said.
He is ordering some industrial strength knee pads and hopes he will be able to get up and down from the floor well enough to complete the training and go on calls as an EMT.
Volunteers are covered under the squad's general liability insurance policy. "Unless you do something really outrageous," said Hodge, volunteers aren't liable for trying to help.
The squad acts under the guidance of the operational medical officer, currently Dr. Asher Brand. Brand is an emergency room physician at Augusta Medical Center.
MARS failed a state inspection June 13 and is currently not authorized to respond to calls. Duquette says none of items cited in the inspection "would in any way effect patient care or response time."
Hodge, as squad chief, took responsibility for the failed inspection, but Duquette pointed out the lack of volunteers played a role. "Who knew gauze bandages had an expiration date?" he said. That was one mark against the squad in its recent inspection.
Duquette said the squad should be recertified in the next week or so. Supplies are spread all over the garage and tables of files and paperwork are laid out in the meeting room in preparation for the next inspection.
Anyone who doesn't have time for the extensive training or to make calls can volunteer to help keep supply stocked and paperwork completed. Volunteers are also needed for fund-raising or just to lend a hand lifting a heavy patient.
An EMT training class will be held beginning Aug. 1. The class runs two nights a week for four and a half months and cost Highland and Bath residents only one dollar. To register for the class call (540) 886- 3676.
For more information on volunteer opportunities with MARS call MARS (540) 997-9358 or John Hodge (540) 997-5267.
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