Carmel Volunteer Ambulance Corps Celebrates 40th Anniversary

Four members of the Carmel VAC discuss the corps’s new building plans last week including (l-r) John Koster, Richard Litsky, Pat Greenwood, and Bob Boeri. ERIC GROSS Times were very different in the hamlet of Carmel in 1969.

The sleepy county seat had a thriving main-street business district. The glut of residential development was about to explode. The school district was composed of a high school and two elementary schools in the Town of Kent.

A cop walked the beat, and when ambulance service was needed, volunteers from the Lake Carmel FD answered the alarm.

Forty years later, the Carmel Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which was formed in 1969 when a group of volunteers purchased a 1959 Cadillac ambulance and began offering service on week nights and weekends only, is one of the county’s more active emergency agencies, having responded to nearly 700 calls this year— a dramatic increase from the 82 alarms answered in 1970.

Last week, the COURIeR sat down with the corps’s President John Koster, Vice President Richard Litsky, and two life members—Bob Boeri and Pat Greenwood.

The Carmel Volunteer Ambulance Corps is one of four ambulance corps independent of fire departments countywide joining its neighbors in Garrison, Philipstown, and Putnam Valley.

Boeri explained that ambulance corps enjoy their independence: “While we work side-by-side with our fire department brothers and sisters at the scenes of calamities, we are our own bosses and run our own business, with scheduling and drilling to our own satisfaction.”

Twenty-six members, including three women, comprised the original corps in 1969, when the emergency vehicle traveled 1,166 miles. This year the corps’s two rigs will travel some 14,000 miles by year’s end with its current roster of 56 members.

Since its inception, the Carmel VAC has seen 550 members come and go.

Unlike a fire department, where volunteers are expected to respond each time an alarm is sounded, ambulance corps personnel work on 6- to 12-hour shifts.

Boeri remembered that in 1972 while recruiting volunteers, daytime coverage was assisted by Guideposts, which allowed 30 employees to undergo special training and answer daytime emergency calls.

Greenwood was asked about training in the old days as compared with today: “When the corps first started, Paul Adler handled all of the training. There were no state mandates. Local physicians taught courses. Two EMTs were required to ride the rig. If you were in the corps for six months, you were expected to become an EMT. Today, things are different, with a driver, attendant, and EMT needed before the rig can respond.”

In all its years of operation, the Carmel Volunteer Ambulance Corps has never delivered a baby on board one of its ambulances. Greenwood said: “I’d like to have that opportunity before I die. There is nothing like bringing a child into the world.”

Litsky joked: “When the day comes, and we receive a call on our pagers reporting a woman about to deliver, there will be 50 guys and gals running for the ambulance.”

Boeri called the territory covered by the Carmel VAC unique: “All it takes for us to reach the hospital is three miles maximum as opposed to other towns that might be 10 to 15 miles away.”

From its original Cadillac, the corps has grown and now owns two ambulances with price tags of $183,000. The corps has also recently purchased an officer’s car that will help speed up response at the scene of crisis situations. The corps will also be expanding its headquarters on Vink Drive next year.

Koster expressed concern over new senior housing planned for the hamlet of Carmel, where 1200 units have been approved: “Senior citizens usually require more medical attention. Our statistics indicate more and more calls today for current senior housing locations.”

Litsky described the corps as “family. People from all walks of life and all occupations are members.”

Greenwood added: “An ambulance corps is not for everyone. Some people start but they discover they can’t handle it. That is why volunteers are always being sought.”

The Putnam County Legislature recognized the corps at its regular monthly meeting this month when Legislator Mary Ellen Odell of Carmel was joined by Commissioner of Emergency Services Robert McMahon and the county’s Deputy Commissioner of Emergency Services Adam Stiebeling.

The ambulance headquarters contains a kitchen, bedroom and small lounge so members can stay at the facility during their tour if they desire instead of responding from their home or place of business.

Those interested in joining are asked to call the Carmel VAC at 225-7000.