This page includes current news items, a
calendar of upcoming events and an archive of press releases.
Our members and ambulances provide coverage at most major community events including home football games, the Halloween Parade, Santa's arrival & First Night. The Squad also has a Bike Team that covers events with large areas and/or numbers of people.
Upcoming events:
For more info. or to sign-up, please send us Email.
For information about programs offered at SVFAS, call (908)277-9479 or (908) 273-5132 or Email our Publicity Director.
September is First Aid Squad Month (9/8/97)
The Mayor and Common Council have proclaimed the month of September as "Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad Month" in recognition of the services the First Aid Squad provides to the City. A certificate of the proclamation was presented by Mayor Walter Long to Ken Herr, Captain of the Summit First Aid Squad at the Common Council meeting last Tuesday night.
This proclamation coincides with the Squad’s annual fund drive which will be mailed to each residence and business this month. The Squad receives no funding from the City or any other government agency and the annual fund drive is it’s primary source of income. According to Squad President Cindy Santella, the fundraising from this year’s effort will help with the new training that members have needed in order to obtain certification as Emergency Medical Technicians, the guidelines for which were recently changed by the State Department of Health. Earlier this year, the Squad refurbished 1 of it’s 3 ambulances. "We have also recently outfitted our Bike Team, and are one of the few basic life support organizations in the state to have such a team. The team serves not only Summit, but surrounding towns as well", Santella said. The fund drive is administered entirely by volunteers. "We do not use outside fund raising agencies or marketing firms, so those who contribute can be assured that 100% of their gift will actually benefit the Squad", said John Staunton, Fund Drive Chairman.
1997 is the 35th anniversary of the Summit First Aid Squad. In the proclamation, Mayor Long cited the importance of all the good deeds contributed by the Squad’s many volunteers for 35 years and encouraged all citizens to support the organization in it’s efforts to provide quality emergency medical services to the City.
Bike Team to the Rescue (appeared in the Summit Observer 8/21/97)
While providing EMS coverage at the Summit Downtown Fair last Saturday, members of the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad Bike Team found themselves assisting the Police as well. During the afternoon, the Police received a report of a missing person; an elderly woman who reportedly had missed a dose of medication and as a result may have become confused. Given the large area and number of people attending, the Police felt that search would be difficult, so Sargent Paul Kelley approached the First Aid Squad to enlist the help of the Bike Team. The bicycles provide fairly easily travel through the crowds as well as good vision since the rider is a bit higher than most pedestrians. About 10 minutes after receiving the report, team member Kari Phair located the missing woman. Although mildly confused, she was otherwise on good health.
The Summit First Aid Squad first began using bicycles to cover events in 1992. Since then their use has been proven valuable on several occasions.
Softball Champions (appeared in the Summit Independent 8/20/97)
The Summit First Aid Squad has won this year's "Mayor's Trophy" by defeating the Summit Fire Department by a score of 9-8 at the Summit Softball Classic game played on July 4 at Memorial Field. The Summit Fire Department had won the event for the previous 2 consecutive years, defeating the First Aid Squad last year and the Police Department in 1995.
Have Ambulance, Will Travel (6/19/97)
Three members of the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad volunteered for a special assignment earlier this month. Squad members Alex Balish, Don Petrides and Karen Stenstrom transported a local resident to a long-term care facility in Vermont via ambulance. Shown here [picture] is Summit "Squad Three" as it crosses the Vermont border. Non-emergency ambulance transportation is one of the many services offered by the Squad to Summit residents. All are free of charge. Long distance transports such as this, do need to be scheduled in advance. To contact the First Aid Squad, call 277-9479. In an emergency, please dial 9-1-1.
Team Efforts Save Life at Local Supermarket (3/27/97)
A man who suffered a heart attack while shopping at the Kings supermarket in Summit last month is alive today thanks to the efforts of several agencies. According to the Summit First Aid Squad, a 9-1-1 call reporting a man "having a seizure" was received just after 1:30 p.m. on Friday, February 7. At the time, the Squad had 2 ambulances on the road. One crew was on a non-emergency transportation while another had just cleared from an automobile accident scene. The second crew responded immediately. At the same time, a Summit Fire Department truck happened to be on Springfield Ave. and responded directly to the scene. Battalion Chief Mike Barber, and Firefighters Wayne Smith and Rich Staggard arrived first finding the man in cardiac arrest with 2 Kings employees starting CPR. The firemen, who have been recently trained as first responders, administered oxygen and took over CPR.
The Summit First Aid Squad Ambulance with Acting Crew Chief Alex Balish, Sue Ballantyne and Don Petrides arrived about a minute later. The Squad members immediately hooked up their semi-automatic defibrillator and administered 1 shock. The Fire Dept. team remained to assist the Squad until a paramedic unit from Overlook Hospital arrived a few minutes later. The paramedics and Squad members were able to restore a heartbeat and breathing before transporting the man to Overlook Hospital. According to Overlook Hospital, the man was released less than 2 weeks later.
This is the fourth person to be saved using the semi-automatic defibrillator since the Summit First Squad began their use in late 1993. Three of those people are still alive today. One factor that may have helped save a life in this case was the early intervention of "citizen first responders". Roseanne Deevey and Marta Pawelek, also a nursing student, are both employees at Kings and began care very quickly. National statistics show that a cardiac arrest patients chances of survival increase dramatically with early CPR and early defibrillation.
This incident will make a good case study because it included all components of a good EMS system; trained bystanders (the Kings employees), first responders (Summit Fire Dept.) Basic Life Support (Summit First Aid Squad), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (Overlook paramedics) and prompt transfer to a qualified Emergency Department (Overlook Hospital).
The Fire first responder program, a joint effort of the Summit Fire Department and Summit First Aid Squad, is a 1-year experiment that started in January. Based on it's success thus far, both First Aid Squad and Fire Department officials expect that the program will be extended.
Auto Accident Injures Three (11/29/96)
An automobile accident at the intersection of Springfield Ave. and George St. last night injured the drivers of two vehicles involved as well as a passenger. At about 6:00 p.m., just after the 5:00 Mass at St. Teresa's Church was finished, the Police received a report of an accident involving several cars and dispatched 2 Patrol officers. Upon arrival at the scene, police officers found that there were 2 people injured and requested the First Aid Squad. After arriving on the scene, Acting Crew Chief Matt Sinclair discovered a third injured person and requested a Back-up Call for additional members and another ambulance. A total of 9 Squad volunteers responded with 2 ambulances. Two EMTs from AMR, a paid ambulance service, were passing by the scene and also stopped to give assistance.
At the request of EMS personnel on the scene, the Summit Fire Department also responded to assist with vehicle stabilization, provide scene lighting and to deal with fluids in the roadway.
2 patients were transported by ambulance to the trauma center at Morristown Memorial Hospital and a third to Overlook Hospital in Summit. Two patients were treated for head injuries and all three for possible neck injuries.
Construction Accident Buries Man (9/13/96)
An excavation accident at the site of the new home construction project on O'Shea Pl. in Summit left a construction worker partially buried for over an hour. The accident occurred between the NJ Transit railroad track and the cul de sac of O'Shea Place, a new street under construction off Beekman Rd. A trench that had been dug for placement of sewer lines for the new home project collapsed, burying a 28-year old man up to his neck in dirt.
At 3:55 p.m. the Summit Fire Department received the call for a trench collapse with an entrapment. Less than a minute later, the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad was dispatched to Memorial Field for an ankle injury. The Squad's first crew was still committed to this call when the Fire Department requested their assistance at 4:09, so a back-up call was transmitted, bringing off-duty members from home and work. Squad members Carol Simonini, Mike D'Ecclessis, Alice Nichols and Karen Stenstrom responded with a second ambulance. Because of the high risk of rescuer injury, the first crew was also summoned to the scene after completing their call. A Paramedic unit from Overlook Hospital also responded. "During strenuous rescue operations such as this, there is always a chance of injury to rescuers as well as the possibility of a secondary collapse. We always want to have sufficient resources available to deal with any situation that may arise", said Squad President Carl Ganger, who also responded to the scene.
Oxygen was administered and communication with the victim was maintained via a portable radio while firefighters from Summit, assisted by members of the Elizabeth, Cranford, and Madison Fire Departments worked to free him.
Just after 6:00 p.m. the man was removed from the trench and turned over to the First Aid Squad for treatment. He was transported by ambulance to Tatlock field, transferred to "NorthStar", a State Police med-evac helicopter and then flown to the trauma center at University Hospital in Newark. The patient received only minor injuries and was released from the hospital later that night.
During this emergency, a driver received minor injures in an automobile accident on Summit Ave. An ambulance from the Chatham Emergency Squad was called to this scene and assisted by Summit Squad member Paul Vickery.
A Busy Day for the First Aid Squad (1/12/96)
While the gas main break on Maple Street kept the Fire Department busy for most of the day on Wednesday, the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad was kept busy as well. Between 6:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. First Aid Squad volunteers responded to a total of 12 calls; 9 emergency calls in the City, 1 non-emergency transportation and 2 mutual aid emergency calls in Mountainside.
The Duty Crew was summoned to stand-by for the gas main emergency at about 8:00 a.m. Shortly after that, a back-up call was transmitted for a second crew to respond to an emergency at the train station. Additional members who had responded to the Squad's headquarters on Summit Ave. staffed the 3rd ambulance and were dispatched to a mutual aid call in Mountainside shortly thereafter. At this point, CENCOM, the Squad's dispatch agency stopped transmitting calls via pagers, as they normally do, and simply assigned calls via radio to whichever crew was available. On 2 occasions that day, all 3 of the Squad's ambulances were involved in simultaneous calls.
Two of the calls were directly related to the gas main break, including one to the tier parking garage for 2 employees who were having breathing difficulties after reporting the strong odor of gas. One call was snow related; a woman who slipped on the ice sustained an ankle injury. This was at least the 8th snow/ice- related injury that the Squad has responded to this Winter.
A total of 11 members responded to the various calls that day. One member commented. "There were no calls on Tuesday, so we had to catch-up".
Busy Day for First Aid Squad brings Med-evac to Summit Twice (5/17/95)
An early morning automobile accident Wednesday injured the drivers of both vehicles involved as well as a nearby pedestrian. At about 7:30 a.m. the First Aid Squad was dispatched to Summit Ave. and Springfield Ave. for "a motor vehicle accident". Several members responded from home to the Squads' headquarters while 2 others responded directly to the scene. While enroute to their building, at least 2 members maintained radio contact with CENCOM, the First Aid Squad's dispatch agency, and learned that there were at least 2 injuries, one of which was serious. As a result the 4 members who responded decided to bring 2 ambulances to the scene.
The Summit Fire Department had also responded after receiving a report of a woman entrapped. Due to the nature of the accident and injuries, a paramedic unit from Overlook Hospital was also dispatched.
Upon arrival at the scene, 3 patients were discovered, one of whom, a pedestrian, was found beneath a car. The Fire Department used an air bag system specifically designed for rescue to lift the vehicle while the Squad removed the woman. As is the case with most multiple trauma injuries, it was decided to transport this patient to a trauma center. Summit's third ambulance and a second paramedic unit were then requested to respond as well as a "North-Star", the Med-Evac helicopter from University Hospital in Newark.
The First Aid Squad transported one woman via ambulance to Tatlock field, the City's designated landing zone, where she was transferred to the helicopter and then flown to the Trauma Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital. The other 2 patients were transported by ambulance to Overlook Hospital in Summit.
Supervising the rescue operations were Lt. Joseph Houck of the Summit Fire Department and Lt. John Staunton of the Summit First Aid Squad. "The cooperation between the Police, Fire, Paramedic and First Aid Squad people was great" commented Staunton, "that's one reason why this call was handled so well".
Later that morning, a construction accident at Kent Place School brought all of these agencies together again. A man who received a serious leg injury was treated and transported via ambulance to Talock field, transferred to the helicopter and flown to the Trauma Center at University Hospital in Newark.
"When treating trauma victims we generally try to follow a rule called 'the Golden Hour'" said Staunton. "This means that any serious trauma patient should be transported and in a hospital in less than 1 hour from the time of injury. Today, all of our patients were transported to various hospitals well within this time".
Overlook Alarm Prompts Major First Aid Squad Response (appeared in Summit Observer 4/11/95)
On Tuesday evening, a report of a fire and heavy smoke condition at Overlook Hospital brought a response not only from the Summit Fire Department, but from 17 area first aid and rescue squads as well. At about 7:30 p.m the Summit Fire Department received a report of a fire alarm activation in the Hospital and made it's usual response of 2 engine companies and 1 ladder truck. Shortly after arriving on the scene, firefighters discovered a smoke condition that appeared to be caused by the hospitals incinerator. Battalion Chief John Mullen ordered a Signal 10; a request for the on-call paid firefighters and all volunteer firefighters to come in to Fire Headquarters. Upon discovering the smoke condition had affected at least 2 floors, a Signal 11; a recall of all paid and volunteer personnel was ordered.
Several minutes later, Summit's third and fourth engines responded while the Springfield Fire Dept. sent and engine to stand-by at Summit's fire house. Firefighter Rick Locke, who was driving Summit's 4th engine, discovered a woman down on the Morris Ave. side of the hospital and immediately requested the Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad. Summit firefighters, all of whom are now trained in first aid, began to treat the woman. The duty crew was in the Squad building, just 2 blocks away and arrived only a minute later. The woman, a hospital employee who had fallen on the sidewalk and sustained a head injury was quickly treated, stabilized and transported by ambulance to the Emergency Room.
Meanwhile, a decision was reached by hospital staff to activate "Operation Overlook", the hospitals internal disaster plan. Part of this plan calls for the establishment of a command post in the hospital auditorium and telephone contact with CENCOM, Overlooks' dispatch agency. Due to a telephone malfunction, CENCOM was unable to contact anyone in the command post and the dispatchers on duty assumed the worst. A call for "one ambulance from each town" was made over the county police radio and a mobilization call for "all Summit Squad members" transmitted.
The squad duty crew had now finished with it's first call, and moved to a parking lot on Broad Street where Crew Chief Paul Carro established a staging area. Off-duty members responded from home and brought the Summit Squad's 2nd and 3rd ambulances to the staging area where they were joined by 17 mutual aid ambulances from surrounding towns. Other organizations sending ambulances included the Berkeley Heights Rescue Squad, Callmen's Emergency Unit of Union, Clark Volunteer Emergency Squad, Kenilworth Fire Dept. Rescue Squad, Cranford First Aid Squad, Fanwood Rescue Squad, Garwood First Aid Squad, Kean College EMS, Mountainside Rescue Squad, Roselle Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Scotch Plains Rescue Squad, Springfield First Aid Squad, Watchung Rescue Squad, Westfield Rescue Squad, Union Volunteer EMS, and EMTAC, a paid ambulance service that covers Irvington. Two Mobile Intensive Care units from Union Hospital and 2 from Overlook also responded.
About 10 minutes after this large EMS group had assembled, it was learned that the fire was contained to the incinerator and the Fire Department had the smoke condition under control. Lt. John Staunton of the Summit First Aid Squad then ordered all additional ambulances that were enroute to Summit canceled and began to release those that had arrived.
Summit Volunteer First Aid Squad President Carl Ganger was among those who responded and expressed his organization's thanks to all the neighboring squads for their assistance. "It's nice to know that we can depend upon our neighbors if a real disaster does strike" said Mr. Ganger. Even though this was a "false alarm", most of those involved were pleased to learn of the capability to assemble 20 ambulances in only 15 minutes.
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