Mount Carmel Rescue Squad can provide basic life support as a quick response service
justin strawser/Staff Photo Mount Carmel Rescue Squad Captain Jason Godin shows off the contents of one of the squad's Quick Response Service trucks Wednesday night at the station on Second and Walnut streets.
by justin strawser
MOUNT CARMEL - With the closing of the American Hose Ambulance Company last week, there have been concerns over patient care and AREA Services' ability to handle the extra call volume.
However, volunteers at Mount Carmel Rescue Squad are reassuring the public they are alive, well and providing rescue service, as they have since 1975.
"It doesn't matter to us what name is on that ambulance. We'll be taking care of a patient until it arrives," said rescue squad president John Dillow at the station on Second and Walnut streets.
Rescue squad captain Jason Godin agreed. "Regardless of what ambulance comes, we're going to treat that patient," he said.
The squad is recognized by the Department of Health as a quick response service which can provide basic life support.
They can take care of a patient at the scene, but are not qualified to transport.
Godin said that in the last two years, the rescue squad has responded to 1,192 calls, 75 percent of which are medical emergencies in the borough, Mount Carmel Township and Marion Heights. The squad also responds to fires, accidents and other rescue situations.
Chartered in 1976 and occupying its quarters in the borough since 1982, the squad has seen its ups and downs, but has continued to maintain service in the area.
"We keep crawling up the ladder," said Dillow. "Good ideas and good people made it." Dillow and Godin, as well as the whole squad, wanted the public to know they exist because of community support and they will continue to do everything necessary to keep them safe.
Nineteen of the 40 members on the volunteer roster are certified at EMT levels or higher. Members can also tag along on other company ambulances if needed. To be a member, one has to live within three miles of the borough.
The squad does not use taxpayer money to support their organization. All of the members are volunteers, and the squad does not bill for their services. The building, two trucks, insurance, utilities and everything connected with the organization has been paid for through fund drives and donations from the community.
As part of the Northumberland County Technical Rescue Task Forece, the two rescue squad trucks have speciality equipment in addition to their BLS equipment, including special rescue tools, hydraulic cutting tools and confined space equipment. Members have training in trench rescue, confined space rescue, high angle rope rescue and structural collapses.
The downside of volunteering is that members only respond if they are available, and the station is not always manned.
With AREA Services in Atlas, Godin was asked if the rescue squad would ever consider converting to an ambulance service.
"The trend we've seen is if you don't have sufficient call volume, you can't keep a truck here for an extended period of time," he said, adding that he would be disappointed if the organization took people's money and wasted it on something it couldn't sustain.
Because the ambulance business has turned into just that, founding member and vice president Rich Zinda said the rescue squad is there to help people.
"We do it because we care," he said. "We want to make a difference."
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