By Leslie Gonzalez
This winter has been very busy one for the Malverne Volunteer Ambulance Corps, whose workers reportedly responded to the highest total number of emergency calls since 1996. Many cases involved a number of people with respiratory problems, made worse by the colder-than-usual weather the area has suffered over the past couple of months.
At the meeting, Bill Malone, Malverne's ambulance corps president, strongly urged residents who experience any difficulty breathing to dial 911.
Even if you do not have any history of any type of respiratory illness, as soon as you experience any kind of shortness of breath, or any pain or pressure in the chest, any wheezing that's out of the ordinary, please call an ambulance right away, said Malone, who described a number of calls received at practically the last possible moment before a person goes into respiratory arrest.
The time to call us is when you start to experience that shortness of breath, because that's when the situation is more controllable, said Malone. According to emergency response and village officials, extra shoveling and its related stress on the body can be avoided by waiting until street plowing is complete.
If you just did the sidewalk, and your street is not plowed yet, we're going to go over it, said Paul Jessup, Department of Public Works representative, whose crews plowed over 26 miles of roads during the latest snowstorm.
The best thing I can tell you is just sit back, watch the snow fall, turn on the TV, and just relax. Let us do our job first.
An annual report released by the ambulance corps revealed its workers responded to 1,818 individual and 429 aided cases in 2000, an increase of 72% and 38% respectively, over the previous year. With that increase in emergency calls comes a need for more volunteers, prompting officials to call upon Malverne and its surrounding communities for able individuals and help in providing the MVAC with a much needed, temporary meeting place. The ambulance corps is not a village organization, but a separate entity that the village contracts on an annual basis, and it has yet to find a home of its own.
One project previously considered by the village was the addition of a second level to the Department of Public Works building at 9 Hempstead Avenue to accommodate the emergency response team.
We believe that by having a headquarters with sleeping facilities, we can draw people from outside the village to join our ambulance corps, said Trustee Joseph Hennessey at the board meeting. Although plans for a second-floor addition were rejected due to cost, redesign plans are currently under way for first-level construction.
We've received a $93,000 grant for the ambulance corps, which also has its own building fund accumulated over the past several years, said Malverne Mayor Anthony Panzarella.
We will be looking at late spring, early summer for a design that will add more offices to the present DPW building, and provide a brand new building and separate bays, said trustee James Callahan. The ambulance corps is to have access to that building.
Also questioned at the meeting was the apparent two-month delay in life-saving defibrillator training for the Malverne Police Department. Cardiologists recommend defibrillator use, which can revive heart attack victims with an electrical shock that can restore the heart's normal rhythm. Early defibrillation is the only known therapy for most cardiac arrests, and a timely response may increase a patient's survival rate by as much as 40 percent. A mayor's golf fundraiser held Sept.18 successfully raised $9,000 toward the purchase of two of the devices, which will equip two police patrol cars. Although the devices were received in mid-November, officers were reportedly slow in making themselves available for the voluntary training classes.
I have just been notified by Bill Malone that four Sundays have been set aside, over the next six weeks, to provide training, said Mayor Panzarella on Tuesday.
In the meantime, village officials expressed interest in establishing a list of youths willing to shovel snow for senior citizens and the disabled, to be made available to the general public, in response to a number of telephone calls received from residents who cannot shovel snow.
(ITAL)Anyone interested in working with the Malverne Volunteer Ambulance Corps may call (516) 599-3141.
