Always On: Weston EMS Offers Classes, Seeks Recruits

WESTON, CT — The volunteer Emergency Medical Services team in town is anxiously recruiting new members. While their need for fresh faces is hardly an existential crisis, you need only do the math to realize it's getting a little tight.

The group currently has 49 volunteers who must keep two ambulances crewed 24/7/365. Adria Belport, a Weston EMT who is publicizing the recruitment outreach, says Weston tries to have three EMTs on-duty for each shift. But that's just the "official" schedule pinned on the wall above the coffee machine. In reality, the EMTs are asked to keep their radios on all the time, so that when a call comes in, personnel who are closest to the victim’s residence or scene of the motor vehicle accident may respond, along with the on-duty EMTs.

"It's very, very rare that members don't respond from our community and we have to get mutual
aid from Wilton," Belport said. That kind of coverage takes dedication, sure, but it also takes raw manpower. The group, which is constantly campaigning for donations, is now campaigning — hard — for bodies. Attrition in the ranks from volunteers moving away or retiring is having a serious impact on an emergency services organization that clocks over 500 calls per year. That's a lot on the plate even if the emergencies popped up at an even rate, which of course they don't.

"We can go for three days without a call — which is rare — and then have five calls in one day," Belport said.

Weston Volunteer EMS crews are also on standby and on-site at community events such as football games, fireworks and bicycle races, and they regularly take vitals at the senior center. They were even on hand for the wedding of Keith Richards' daughter at Lachat Town Farm last month, which all things considered, was probably a prudent call.

Weston's volunteer ambulance corps is funded completely by donations, and that saves the town more than $1.5 million a year, according to Belport.

"Unlike what many people think, we are not funded like 'Fire' is, we are one hundred percent donations." The volunteers also do not charge their patients for the trip to the emergency room. To put that in perspective, a Ridgefield resident will be dinged up to nearly $1,200 for a ride to the ER, once that town’s new fee structure kicks in on Jan. 1, 2020.

Even the cost of the volunteers' new headquarters will come mostly from donations. The EMS volunteers have pledged $750,000, to come from donations, to the project. The remainder, estimated at $350,000, will be funded by the town. In addition to office space, the new facility, scheduled to go into service next year, will include sleeping accommodations which Belport cites as a crucial upgrade.

Volunteering for EMS is not like volunteering at the Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club, obviously. Besides the high pressure and high level of training, the schedule of an EMT is challenging and unpredictable. It also helps if you are your own boss.

"We have lawyers. We have doctors. We have a dentist. We have real estate people," Belport said, running down the roster. "Most people have flexible work schedules." Belport herself runs Van Pearl Associates, Inc., a boutique marketing firm in town. Those who can't typically bolt from their day job when the call from the 9-1-1 dispatcher comes in, are assigned the night shifts.

EMS is "under the umbrella" of the Fire Department, and drills with them, but is its own organization. In a grim sign of the times, the last couple of years they have participated in "active shooter drills" at home and in other towns, working with police as well as firefighters. Belport says they also work with police frequently on mental health cases.

Classes for those want to learn the skills involved in saving a life as an EMT start Oct. 15 and run through January 25, at the EMS/Fire headquarters at 52 Northfield Road in Weston. After completing the training successfully, students will be ready to take their EMT Basic Practical Skill Exam in Connecticut. Success there makes them a fully certified EMT. Belport hopes they'll then turn around and join her crew. If they do, Weston EMS will reimburse the $1,200 cost of the classes. For any able-bodied, civic-minded Weston resident, it's tough to find a better deal anywhere.

The class is not offered every year. The last time was four years ago, according to Belport, so if you're on the fence, get off the fence, you may not get the opportunity again soon.