Brian Link said that he was the classic example of the person who wanted to give something back to “my community” and came in offering to volunteer as a driver. “I had no desire to work in the medical field, as I was more interested in law enforcement, and I knew the Rescue Squad worked very closely with law enforcement.” Well, after going through his ambulance-driver training, responding to hundreds of calls and spending time with NPRS members, he said that his “interest in patient care was sparked, and I went on to get my EMT and recently graduated from paramedic school!” Link is one of the Squad’s half-dozen paid full-time staff members.
What makes this crew unique? First and foremost, they’ve mostly grown up in, raised families in, worked in and/or gone to school in New Paltz and know many of the patients whom they serve on an emergency basis. “That’s a treatment in itself, when we walk in and our patient knows us, trusts us. That relaxes them right then and there. We’re not a commercial operation; we’re all here because we love what we do, love our community and want to use our expertise to help our friends and neighbors. It’s an unquantifiable thing,” said Bassinette.
As the rank-and-file membership walked in, either on duty or to be part of the photo for the New Paltz Times, every face was familiar, whether born-and-bred Paltzonians Ellen Dietz, Jason Conway, Lauren Rooney… “Jason grew up here, worked at P&G’s, and knows so many people. I went to school here, had a business here and also know so many of our patients. We’ve snaked toilets, brought emergency food and clothing; we add that extra level of patient caring because we’re community-based. These are our friends, our neighbors, our families or our colleagues’ friends, neighbors and families. There’s no way to compare that to a commercial operation,” said the chief.
One of the original members of the NPRS was Michael Benenati, who served as a mentor for so many of the members today and still sits on the Advisory Board. He is the person whom so many people look up to and model themselves after and want to reach his level of paramedic training. There is also Donna Lapolt, a veteran volunteer of the NPRS who serves as its recording secretary, but is known amongst the members as our “den mother. She is so integral to this organization,” said Conway. “We all love her.”
Veteran member Ron Fields, who joined the NRPS as a volunteer in 1978, said that, while it has grown in membership and vehicles and finally has a permanent home base, in his estimation, “Very little has changed. The enthusiasm of the people that volunteer is the same as it was when I joined, which is why I joined. New Paltz has had, since the beginning and to today, one of the most progressive rescue squad organizations — way in front of the curve.”
Fields explained that, back when he joined in the 1970s, he did so because the NPRS offered a free advanced First Aid and CPR course, which he took and then felt that he could give back to his community with his newly licensed knowledge. “When I joined, what I discovered was that most of our volunteer membership were licensed EMTs, many of them paramedics. Back then, you didn’t need any of those certifications to ride in the back of an ambulance. They did this on their own, because they wanted to offer the best care that they could. That was a culture spearheaded by Michael Benenati and others. There was no peer pressure, no requirements, but it inspired me to go and get more certifications, as well as the rest of the Squad. And we’ve always been approximately half-women and half-men. That’s how it was in the beginning and it is now, and that’s very rare in this field of work.”
You need nothing but a desire to volunteer and to get training to become part of the NPRS family. Once you’ve become a member, it’s really up to you how much time you can dedicate to become an approved ambulance driver, or get your EMT certs or go onto paramedic school. “This is a family-like organization, but also a career-minded organization where you can come in, serve your community, get training and experience you need to then decide to go on and pursue more medical certifications and degrees,” said Fields.
As the NPRS’s membership has grown, so have its calls and responsibilities, with an average of 200 more calls per year each year.
When walking in and amongst the 80-member, primarily volunteer staff, the friendship, camaraderie and sense of community service are palpable. Congratulations on 40 great years, NPRS. Here’s to another 40!
