Mar 8, 2002 - 11:38 PM
Though that hasn't happened, say rescue squad captains in Amherst County, it's a real possibility if they don't get some assistance.
Membership in the three volunteer rescue agencies - Amherst, Pedlar and Monelison volunteer rescue squads - is down and there's no relief in sight (see accompanying box for numbers). Trying to find trained emergency medical technicians to respond to emergency calls during daylight hours has always been difficult, but lately it's worse.
"There's not a day that goes by that I'm not concerned about the duty schedule," said Capt. Sam Bryant of the Amherst Lifesaving Crew. "With the way things are going right now, I think it's just right around the corner that the wrong call doesn't get answered."
Pedlar Rescue Squad Capt. Chris Adams agreed.
"We all know it's a matter of life and death," he said, noting that when someone has a massive heart attack, there is an incredibly small slice of time in which help needs to be given. "If you don't get there between six and 10 minutes, it's over."
Call volume has run in the opposite direction. Monelison is running 17 percent more calls this year than it did in 1999. Amherst and Pedlar couldn't immediately tabulate how much their volume has increased, but both Bryant and Adams said it's cause for concern.
Corralling enough trained volunteer EMTs to staff the agencies during the day has been a bugbear for years. Squad captains say people are busier now - two-career families and jobs that don't allow employees to leave to run calls are the norm.
With the population aging and medical technology extending life expectancy, Bryant said, calls for rescue help will only continue to rise. That's not going to change, he said, "and we have to take care of it."
Of course, anyone who lives in the countryside has to accept certain risks - good rural living comes at a price. Even if the Monelison station were filled to the brim with EMTs 24 hours a day, said Capt. Gary Roakes, a 15-mile trip is still a 15-mile trip. It simply takes longer to get an ambulance to an isolated part of the county and nothing - not even a fully paid, 24-hour crew - will ever change that.
Adding to the trouble, when citizens volunteer to join the squads, more than half "cycle-out" within a few short years.
"We'll have three or four folks that (join) every year," said Roakes. "Then we lose two or three folks."
Committing to hundreds of hours of emergency medical training then having to go through a re-certification process every few years - not to mention the stress of trying to save dying people - are not things many are able or willing to do.
At least, not for long.
"We'll get them for three to five years and then when they're up for re-cert they're gone," Roakes said.
Bryant said Amherst could provide better incentives for signing up - Nelson County, for example, gives active volunteers a $5,000 break on the assessment of their personal property taxes such cars and farm equipment. Volunteers in Amherst County get only a free county car decal worth $25.
On the other hand, said Bryant, squads really need the type of person who thrives on the more intangible reward of doing good for good's sake.
"They come to me and say they want to be a volunteer, but what can you offer me?" he said, leaning back on a table in the office of Lynchburg Fire Station 1. Grinning, he said, "I say, ‘A lot of hard work, a lot of personal sacrifice, and a little camaraderie.'"
Campbell County, which has six volunteer rescue squads, tackled the problem of plummeting membership with an advertising blitz. The county government gave them $40,000 last year, of which the squads spent $25,000 on television, radio, billboard and print advertising. The remainder was spent on EMT and fire training.
What a difference a check makes.
Before September 2001, the Campbell County Department of Public Safety had only seven requests for rescue squad applications pending. By January 2002, said Rodney Lawson, deputy director of public safety, they had 128.
"I was very pleased with it, very pleased," said Lawson. "I think for the amount of money we invested ... this looks very promising. But, this is something that has to be tracked for 12 months."
Of the 128 requests, 88 would-be volunteers made it through the background screening and were sent along for squads to consider. Of those 88, 41 are signed on as new members and have started training.
Lawson said it remains to be seen how many of these new recruits will stay on after their training and probationary periods, but he's optimistic.
Even better, the applications keep rolling in.
"We've had to turn people away from EMT training classes," Lawson said.
Nothing else has worked so well to swell the ranks, he said, and the department plans to re-mount the campaign yearly.
"A centralized campaign is the only way to do it - this is not a one-time thing," said Lawson. "If we're serious about the volunteer system, this is what we have to do to keep it alive."
The three Amherst squads aren't likely to see a county "prize patrol" roll up in their driveways this year. Amherst County is facing flat revenue, and the Board of Supervisors has asked each public agency - including the sheriff's department, which has helped fill in the squads' gaps with medically trained "first responder" deputies - to cut 3 percent from its operating budget.
For information on volunteering, call the Amherst Lifesaving Crew at 946-5055; Monelison Rescue Squad at 929-0908; or Pedlar Rescue Squad at 922-7433.