Have an emergency? You need these folks, and they need you!

The Malverne Volunteer Ambulance Corps can be the difference between someone’s life and death. They come to aid at those critical times when help is needed most. Now they’re the ones who need help — their number of volunteers is at a “critically low level,” making it more and more difficult for them to sustain that life-saving resource for Malverne.

“It’s extremely dire,” Luis Lora, president of the Malverne Volunteer Ambulance Corps, said of their level of volunteers. He added that, despite their call for volunteers, the corp has only received one application in the past several months.

Without a local ambulance corps, Malverne would have to depend on ambulances from the county. While a welcomed resource, it simply isn’t the same.

“When you have your own ambulance corps, the response time is just enormous,” said Village Trustee Perry Cuocci, who is also a past president and longtime active member of the ambulance corps. “It’s a lot better because we’re sitting right here in the village, and we’re able to respond in a very fast and efficient manner.”

“Depending on what the medical emergency is, time could mean everything in terms of recovery and saving someone,” he added. “You can’t beat a local ambulance corps in terms of response time, and responding to the needs of our residents.”

Cuocci said that the members of the corps are getting older, making it harder to meet the physical demands that the job requires. This natural progression is usually supplemented by a steady generational rotation, and younger volunteers fill the shoes of their predecessors. This time, however, those new volunteers are nowhere to be found.

“Volunteerism in general is not what it used to be,” Cuocci said. “We’re not the only ambulance corps on the island that’s having an issue. Fire departments are having an issue. We even have issues with regular people just volunteering for normal, non-life-threatening activities. It’s not what it once was.”

The sudden generational drop-off begs the question of “why?” Why the stark difference in volunteerism now and, say, 20 years ago? Mayor Tim Sullivan said that part of it likely comes from the fact that American families are having to spend more time working these days — time that, years ago, might have been spent volunteering in the community.

“The Malverne ambulance corps has traditionally been an all-in-the-family kind of an organization, multi-generational,” Sullivan said. “The family structure’s changed a little bit, where a husband and wife that may have been part of the corps will both be full-time workers now.

“Employment life in general, family life in general, has changed. I think that’s probably had an impact on volunteerism in general, and certainly a direct impact on the ambulance corps.”

Lora and Cuocci said that the current rate of volunteer applicants is “unsustainable” for the MVAC. If the trend continues, the corps is in danger of no longer being able to provide for the people of Malverne.

To supplement the MVAC, the village board has made agreements with Northwell Health. The hospital will send out an ambulance if the corps is unable to respond to a call. However, the cost of an ambulance ride today is simply unmanageable for some families, especially for those whose insurance will not cover it. It’s a big difference from the local, completely cost-free ambulance service that MVAC provides.

“We don’t charge a dime,” Lorna said. “It’s a complete volunteer, non-profit organization. So you’re not surprised by getting a bill in the mail. We pick you up, take you to the hospital, and not one penny comes out of your pocket.”

The comfort of knowing that your town has a team of dedicated volunteers that will help you in an emergency is unparalleled — and it’s enhanced by the knowledge that those people are your neighbors, and will take the best possible care of you. Sullivan’s family member had an accident, and he was there when the ambulance corps showed up to the house.

“There’s no better feeling of comfort when you have a local organization that’s responding to you,” Sullivan said. “I knew the responders, and there's no better level of comfort than knowing the people that are actually responding. You know that you’re being taken care of in a respectful and professional manner.”

The ambulance corps adds to the lives of not only the people of Malverne, but the volunteers themselves.

“It’s just fulfilling,” Lorna said. “Assisting any individual, but especially a neighbor.”

“When you can really help someone — recognizing strokes, getting them to the hospital in that golden hour, they call it, to get them back to a fully healthy, normal life — and seeing those people months or a year later walking through town, and you know you had something to do with them being here — that really brings a lot of gratification,” Cuocci said.

“Malverne, we have a very special, unique community here,” he said. “But it doesn’t happen on its own. It happens because the residents are involved.”

“If you want to make it that kind of a community, then you get involved. And there’s no better way than the ambulance corps.”

Those interested in volunteering can visit MalverneVAC.org.