Keep a look out for Shelter Island ambulances on display around town as our all-volunteer squad celebrates National EMS Week, May 17 to 23. The theme this year is “EMS Strong.”
Typically to honor this week, Shelter Island EMS hosts an open house and opens up ambulances so kids (and their grownups) can poke around and learn more about the lifesaving equipment and resources they contain. That can’t happen this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, so the local squad settled on the idea of a display.
Governor offers thanks
“This week is national EMS week and it’s a time to thank the EMS workers who just were on the front lines and did a magnificent job,” Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said, during a briefing this week in Albany.
“Some of them actually gave their lives to this and we are all very, very grateful to them.”
“Everybody knew Covid-19 was dangerous,” Cuomo said, but EMS workers didn’t stay home. “We should remember that.”
“Hospital works, NYPD, fire department, EMS, grocery store workers, delivery boys, delivery women, they showed up, God bless them. God bless them and we thank them.”
Lifesaving services
“EMS Week brings together local communities and medical personnel to honor the dedication of those who provide the day-to-day lifesaving services of medicine’s frontline,” says the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, a trade association that serves all EMS practitioners.
No matter how its celebrated, NAEMT says, “EMS Week is the perfect time to recognize EMS and all that its practitioners do for our nation.”
In 1974, President Gerald Ford authorized EMS Week to “celebrate EMS practitioners and the important work they do in our nation’s communities,” NAEMT says on its website. The organization partners with the American College of Emergency Physicians to lead annual EMS Week activities.
Together the two groups also work to ensure that the important contributions of EMS practitioners in safeguarding the health, safety and wellbeing of their communities are fully celebrated and recognized.
EMS on Shelter Island
Locally, emergency medical services are provided by an all-volunteer squad with about 30 members. Most expenses are funded by the Town, but non-profit foundation conducts fundraising for large purchases (see more below).
The team answers an average of 300 calls per year utilizing three ambulances and one support vehicle. During the COVID-19 outbreak, they’ve changed some of their protocols, and continue to be the front line medical responders for Island medical emergencies.
As elsewhere, local EMS practitioners may enter the squad as a certified first responder and then through training earn certification as a basic emergency medical technician, or advanced EMT for intermediate or critical care. Some go on to become paramedics.
Active members must complete numerous hours of continuing education and recertification. This process requires that technicians be re-certified every three years.
Detective Jack Thilberg of the Shelter Island Police serves part-time as paid liaison for the Town of Shelter Island, coordinating SIEMS activities. The EMS works out of a Town-owned ambulance garage and training space on Manwaring Road.
Hone your first aid skills
Everyone has a role to play during a medical emergency. Among critical first steps is making contact with 911. When calling 911, be ready to give:
- The location of the emergency
- The phone number you’re calling from and your name
- A brief account of what happened
- The number of people needing help and any special conditions
- A description of each person’s condition and what’s being done
If COVID-19 is suspected, do let the dispatcher know.
Support Shelter Island EMS
If you’d like to support the delivery of EMS services on Shelter Island, consider a donation to the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation. The non-profit raises funds to help the Town purchase new ambulances and other state-of-the-art emergency response equipment.
