There is nothing
stronger than the heart
of a volunteer.
Just as the buffet was about to open at the Town of Highlands Ambulance Corps 65th annual installation dinner last Friday evening, EMT Kristina Englese’s pager went off. She sighed, smiled and stood up to prepare to head out to a call.
It turned out it was a false alarm, and Englese was able to eat and enjoy the rest of her evening at the Highland Falls Fire House along with several dozen other THAC members, their guests and invited guests.
The evening was to install officers, recognize several award winners, THAC members, and to relax, after a busy year — 635 calls — of serving the community.
Grace Baptist Church’s Rev. Steve Snavely opened the event with a prayer thanking all who volunteer for their “faithfulness over the years”. Among the guests were representatives of the Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery Fire Departments, Cornwall Ambulance Corps, Orange County EMS, Mobile Life, the Town of Highlands and Village of Highland Falls, The Center, Camilla Gomez from Senator James Skoufis’ office, and County Legislator Laurie Tautel.
“Thank you for the service you give to this town,” Tautel, a former THAC member, said. “I know what you do, as someone who grew up here and lives here still. “You are always there, and always incredibly professional.”
Three special awards were given out at the dinner. Pat Flynn was given Capt. Marty Byrnes’ Captains Award and Bryanna Torino received President Jeff Gathers’ President’s Award.
Englese was honored for hitting the 1000 call milestone.
Town of Highlands Supervisor Bob Livsey swore in the officers of the THAC, also thanking them for their service.
Those officers are:
Operations Officers
Captain Marty Byrnes, Assistant Captain Kristina Englese, First Lieutenant Joe Reardon and Second Lieutenant Jeffrey Gathers
Administrative Officers
President Jeffrey Gathers, Vice President Bryanna Torino, Treasurer Eileen Searles, Recording Secretary Steve Scott, Correspondence, Secretary Eileen Searles and Corps Engineer Jeffrey Gathers.
Board of Directors
Chairman Chris Byrnes, Jeff Gathers, Lawrence Harris, Anthony Daugherty, Michael Nanartowich and Paul Christian
Members of the Corps were honored for their number of years of volunteer service, as well as for the number of calls they have been on. Byrnes noted that while some have many calls and others just have a few, “every single call counts”, and the volunteers should be praised no matter how many calls they have been on.
It was noted at the event that the THAC is very short on volunteer drivers, particularly in the daytime. Anyone interested in joining the corps should contact any member.
The volunteers are: Hamid Boulagrich (six months, no calls), Chris Byrnes (19 years, 856 calls), Christin Byrnes (five years, 110 calls), Marty Byrnes (19 years, 2602 calls), Tony Daugherty (11 years, 608 calls), Mervin Livsey (eight years, 410 calls), Larry Fall (eight years, 402 calls), Alex Melo (three years, 155 calls), Jeff Gathers (six years, 883 calls), Patrick Flynn (22 years, 823 calls), Stephen Scott (32 years, 1042 calls), Eileen Searles (eight years, 141 calls), Joe Reardon (two years, eight calls), Cameron Rice (six months, 16 calls), Kristina Englese (seven years, 1029 calls), Damien Rigmaiden (three years, 167 calls), Speed Harris (six years, 389 calls), Michael Buckley (one year, 31 calls), Bryanna Torino (one year, three calls) and Mike Nanartowich (four years, 117 calls).
Byrnes has provided the THAC’s monthly calls for December: there were 65 calls, which included 41 patients treated and transported, 17 calls where treatment or transportation was refused, four calls were cancelled, no patients were found at two calls, and there was one standby call. They made 30 trips to St. Luke’s Hospital, eight to Hudson Valley Hospital Center, two to Orange Regional Medical Center and one to Keller Army Hospital.
