| WESTERLY — There are more than a few reasons for staff at Westerly Ambulance Corps to be thankful this holiday season.
Sitting in the meeting room at headquarters this week, administrative team members including Assistant Chief Michael Brancato, Capt. Tom Rozanski and Lt. Joanna Syren praised the support provided by community members and nonprofit organizations, including donations that have helped turn a growing need for new equipment into a long-term replacement plan.
After all, it is that public funding that helps the Westerly Ambulance Corps to continue to provide quality first-aid medical response throughout the greater Westerly-Pawcatuck area.
“The corps has been fortunate to have great working relationships with both Westerly and Stonington governmental bodies, and we enjoy collaboration we have with town departments including Westerly police, who join us on virtually every call, on a daily basis,” Brancato said. “We have also had the support of many organizations and residents, who have helped us to balance the costs of running the corps as a private organization.”
With the benefit of grant funding from the A.M. Roberts Charitable Foundation, which provided the money for the agency to replace Medic 1, a 2016 Ford Expedition, with a 2024 Chevy Tahoe that will now be able to serve an advanced life support and supervisor vehicle, the corps has made continued leaps forward to establish a long-term equipment replacement plan that will provide a financially stable path forward.
It’s a far cry from what the organization — or any ambulance service, for that matter — had been experiencing since the onstart of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fortunately, the community has backed the organization, and it has allowed staff to provide much needed medical response services in the region. Through Tuesday, the agency had responded to 6,132 calls for service in 2024 and had received more than 10,800 calls through the dispatch center, Rozanski said.
The success has been about more than simply the Roberts Foundation as well. Syren noted that in the past year, private donations and other sponsorships helped the ambulance corps to revamp its response equipment, not just vehicles. In fact, she said the agency has been able to acquire nearly $370,000 in first on scene bags, which contain a wide range of first response needs, a Lund University Cardiopulmonary Assist System (LUCAS) to aid in cardiac arrest response, a video scope and more.
“These are pieces of equipment that are essential to respond appropriately and quickly during a serious call,” she said. “This is what we are doing with the money, trying to invest it in a way that will build a better organization and provide the community with better care.”
In order for the organization to continue to move forward with its long-term equipment replacement plan, Brancato notes that the corps will need continued support from Westerly residents — and expressed thanks for continued support from community businesses as well.
As part of a new partnership with the Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce and Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce, Valenti Suburu will include Westerly Ambulance in its annual “Share the Love” event. The program, which runs through the end of the year, provides a portion of proceeds of vehicle sales to the corps.
Brancato also thanked Westerly police, Strobes N’ More, Coastal Graphics and several other organizations for working with the corps on a regular basis.
In the coming year, Brancato said the organization will once again seek to use subscriptions as a means of beneficial funding for both the organization and local residents. The $80 subscription allows certain potential benefits that can reduce out-of-pocket costs if subscribers are in need of service throughout the year.
The organization is a private one, he noted, and the subscriptions are an important means of helping keep operations effective. There are currently about 1,700 subscribers of an estimated 7,000 households in the community.
Due to laws in Connecticut, subscription services cannot be offered to residents in Pawcatuck.
If fundraising is able to bring in enough revenue, Brancato said the plan would be to replace an aging 2017 Ford F450 with over 200,000 miles with a 2025 Chevy 4-Wheeled Coach. If all goes according to plan, the ambulance would be in service for January 2026.
“One thing that would be beneficial for us is to be able to increase that subscription program. If we can add to that, it will go a long way to help stabilize our future equipment replacement needs,” he said.
For more information on the Westerly Ambulance Corps, including how to donate, visit the organization’s website at https://www.westerlyambulance.org/.
jvallee@thewesterlysun.com |
