Fairfax Rescue Article - Messenger

After Jane Fisher listened to me moan and groan about not being able to find any old newspaper clippings about the Fairfax Rescue Squad, she told me she had one she would be happy to let me borrow. Today when I went down to the Steeple Market, Jane's sister Mary handed me the following clipping from an old St. Albans Messenger which was published on Saturday, November 25, 1989. A special thanks to Jane for this piece of history.

Volunteer crew members for Fairfax Rescue pose with the service's new ambulance Friday. The service operates from a tiny garage on the side of the larger Fairfax Volunteer Fire Department garage. Pictured left to right, are Bill Tantlinger, Elaine Sweatt, Becky Hunt, Jane Fisher, Bob Fisher, and Real Therrien.

(The little garage they are talking about, I believe is the old fire station located on the same location as what the Fairfax Historical Society is now)

"Rescue services struggling to find volunteers
by SCOTT FLETCHER

FAIRFAX — A job description you will not see in the classifieds:

HELP WANTED: Qualified people to work 12-hour shifts for an average of two to four days a week, including weekends. When not waiting, hoping the phone does not ring, you will be responding to medical emergencies of all natures. You will likely be called to help someone you know, perhaps even a neighbor or family member. The startup equipment purchase is roughly $100, out of your pocket. Some heavy lifting. Must also be able to handle massive pressure and responsibility. Must also be prepared to respond to emergencies at all hours, in all types of weather. Salary: none, so don't Quit your day job. Benefits: An all-too-infrequent pat on the back.

Don't all jump at once.

It is easy to take volunteer ambulance squads like the Fairfax Volunteer Service for granted until it is you, or someone you know, who needs emergency care, treatment, or transportation.

But Fairfax, like most volunteer squads around the state, is in need of members. And with a job description like the one above, people are not beating down the doors to join.

"It's a volunteer job where you know you are helping your neighbors," says Becky Hunt, the district chairperson of volunteer squads, and a member of the Fairfax squad. "You know you're helping people you know, and that is a very satisfying feeling. It more than makes up for the negatives."

The staff problem doesn't manifest itself in the number of calls the crew responds to — about 130 last year. It comes from when the emergencies occur. Someone has to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays, and finding qualified people to staff the service is a problem.

"We don't usually have a problem with the night shift," said Hunt. The trouble comes on the day shift when most people are working. It is also tough for mothers to be on call because someone has to watch the children. We seem to always cover it, but not without a lot of inconveniences. We get it done simply because we have to get it done. Somebody has do it."

The squad responds to emergencies in Fairfax, Fletcher and occasionally Georgia, from a central dispatcher in St. Albans.

The three-person crews work 12-hour shifts, and the state mandates at least two of the three volunteers need to be certified Emergency Care Attendants, who have completed a 60-hour course.

But Hunt said the service needs volunteers of all kinds, not just certified rescue people.

"If we had someone who could watch small children, that would be a help because it would allow some mothers to be on call," said Hunt "We have things that need to be done that anyone, can do, things like maintaining our station and vehicle at the firehouse, doing bookkeeping, taking care of our equipment, doing fund-raising or publicity, the little things that would make life easier for us."

Being a rescue on-call requires a person to stay within a five-minute radius of the station, but be reachable by radio.

“You can go shopping, or whatever,” said Hunt. “But you’ve got to be able to get to the station in five minutes.”

A lot of the squad’s help used to come from the farmers of the area, who were able to respond to calls during the weekday hours, generally the most difficult time to get people.

But with the troubles the farming industry has been having, many farmers have had to cut back on their hired hands and do more of the work themselves. It has cut into the squad’s available manpower.

Hunt has served on the squad for seven years, and got involved in an unusual manner. She used to run a Girl Scout group in Fairfax, and needed to be certified for first aid. In taking the course to be certified, she became interested in the ambulance service and has continued to increase her training. She is now the district chairperson of ambulance squads. Leslie Campbell started as a volunteer for the Fairfax service, and just recently took a leave of absence to work for AmCare, one of two professional Franklin County ambulance services. She said once a person gets involved, they tend to stick with the program.

“When you get too few people working too many hours,” said Campbell, “you burn them out. But it’s not easy to quit, because you develop a rapport and a camaraderie with the people you work with, and by quitting, you feel like you’re letting them down and compounding the problem. You tend to start feeling committed to the program.”