2001 Gets Off To A Slow Start For Ambulance Corps

By Steve Bigham

After another record-breaking year in 2000, the Newtown Ambulance Corps is reporting a drop in the call volume during the first two months of this year. All the snow of January and February may have played a part.

“We think it is due to all the snowstorms. People are lying low,” said Susan Cameron, spokesperson for the corps.

The ambulance volunteers don’t expect this brief reprieve to last long, since the community is still growing rapidly. This week’s grand opening of the Homesteads assisted living facility in Hawleyville portends another very busy year for the ambulance corps.

In 2000, the ambulance responded to 1,688 emergency calls, which represented a 12 percent increase over 1999 and a 35 percent rise over the last two years.

In 2000, the corps, which now numbers 65 members, used three ambulances to transport a total of 1,269 Newtown residents and 476 non-residents.

Of the 1,688 emergency calls, 976 were deemed “medical,” 236 were “vehicular injury,” 368 were “non-vehicular trauma,” 83 were “crisis intervention,” and 23 were “standbys.”

The ambulance corps responded to 103 calls at Lockwood Lodge/Ashlar of Newtown, 69 to Nunnawauk Meadows, and 95 to Cornerstone of Eagle Hill.

On 244 occasions, the corps responded to two calls at one time. There were 60 triple calls and 17 quadruple calls.

During one 24-hour period back in October, the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps responded to 18 calls.

“It was the busiest day in the history of the ambulance corps,” noted Chief Kristin Peterson.

The town’s recent building boom has played a role in the increased activity. However, the largest reasons for the increase have been added calls to Lockwood Lodge/Ashlar of Newtown and Cornerstone of Eagle Hill. Those facilities had been served by Danbury Ambulance in the past.

Newtown’s EMTs have a lot of road to cover. At 60 square miles, Newtown is the second largest town in the state. It has 400 miles of incorporated roads and a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 84 within its borders.

Because Newtown is so big, the corps uses the first response system when an emergency call comes in. This system cuts down on response time.

As a 911 call comes in, the dispatcher alerts the volunteer corps by activating pagers which are carried by all licensed members.

Simultaneously, a computer at the dispatch center lists the three closest EMTs to the scene who are accessible by an automated dialer. Those EMTs then respond directly to the scene, while others go directly to the ambulance garage on South Main Street to retrieve the ambulance.

The top 10 responders for 2000 were Deb Aubin (345 calls), Ken Lerman (287), Elizabeth Cain (280), Karin Halstead (267), Ken Appley (254), Chris Belair (243), Kevin Clyne (211), Tom Hanlon (210), Mike Agius (209), and Harold Evans (182).