The Pennington First Aid Squad Responded to 1029 calls in 2008, up 2.7% from 2007.
The Boro of Pennington accounted for 24% of these calls with most of the remainder in Hopewell Township. Five locations accounted for 22% of our calls: Stony Brook Assisted Living (71), Merrill-Lynch (56), Hopewell Garden Apartments (51), Hopewell Township police (30) and Woolsey Court (18).
The PFAS supplied mutual aid to Ewing (52), Lawrence (30), Union (26), Hopewell (7), Princeton (3), and Trenton (2). In return, we received mutual aid 35 times, almost entirely from Hopewell Valley Emergency Services. The mutual aid we provided was up dramatically from 83 calls in 2007 to 120 calls in 2008, but the mutual aid we received dropped from 45 calls to 35 calls.
Our work could not have been accomplished without the work of the dedicated volunteers who responded to calls, kept our building and ambulances in order, helped with fund drives, and recruited and trained new members. The PFAS training center conducted two complete EMT-B courses and regular, monthly drills this year. Sixty-four of our members responded to at least 1 call throughout the year and 20 responded to more than 50 calls.
PFAS salutes the top ten responders for 2008. Together these ten made 1310 responses to calls for help from our community.
PFAS top ten responders for 2008. From top left: Neal Blackwell, Daniel Boone, Richard Gordon, Brian Haig, John Muccioli, Cindy Orlandi, Kristen Orlandi, Zay Risinger, Kirk Schmitt, Tom Tedd
Proud Members of the 2008 Pennington First Aid Squad EMT-B Class pose
for a graduation photo before they take the NJ State EMT exam:
(foreground, l-r) Nicola Burrow, Jacqueline Franzosi, Anna Lyman
(1st row l-r) Ben Cialone, Nathalie Cassion, Raushanah Ali, Yuliya Afinogenova,
Jack Ackerman, Nitzan Ben-David, Kathleen Nase, Emily Benziger, Dawn Ruggie,
Audrey Schlette, Erin Kamleiter, Annmarie Soganic, Troy Sabatura, Nicholas
Smaltino, Laura Murphy, Eric Keeny
(2nd row l-r) Brian Foster, Andrew DeVore, Dan Khan, Greg Bunting,
Tom Falkenberg, Kelsey Ballinger, Gabrielle Schmidt, James Palmer,
Mike Murphy, Jess Williams, Serge Paul, Niklas Hansson, Michael Leahy,
Joe Francisco
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR HIGHER RESOLUTION.
In process of scanning, transcribing, saving old PFAS Monthly Minutes to website. Available in Members section (need login). Complete Minutes 1990-2008. Others to follow
Approximately 250 more PFAS pictures added to the collection.
Anyone seen these TV ads encouraging people to become volunteer EMTs? Some of our PFAS members have cameo appearances.
Pictures from the Memorial Day Parade have been posted in the Members section. Thanks to June Guerard and Bonnie Schmitt for some of these.
Weekend rig checks should now be done on line. Please stop using paper forms.
2008 Infection Control Plan Finalized. See For Members
Pictures from 2008 Captain's Party have been posted in the members only section (finally!)
Congratulations to our latest EMTs, Brielle Hamilton, Dylan Hughes, and Mike Roubo
The 2008 Revision to the Pennington First Aid Squad Infection Control Plan has been posted in the members only section of the web site. Member input on the plan is requested
The Lion's Club Volunteer Recognition Award is presented by the Hopewell Valley Lions Club to members of Hopewell Valley's fire and EMS organizations. On March 30, 2008, the Lion's presented awards for 2006 and 2007 at the Mountain View Golf Course banquet hall. The 2006 recipient from the Pennington First Aid Squad was Julie Aberger, and the 2007 recipient was Cindy Orlandi. These recipients' names will be added to a plaque hanging in Pennington Borough Hall listing honorees from previous years.
Hopewell Valley Lions Club 2006/2007 Fire and EMS Awardees. Click on picture for higher resolution.
The drill for the April meeting will start at 17:30. Please see the training link for details.
New street, Silver's Court, added to directory.
Pictures from Captain's Party will be posted as soon as they are made available.
All PFAS EMTs must take "Right to Know" and "Blood Borne Pathogens" each year. Courses are being offered Saturday February 9 at 0800-1200, Wednesday February 20 at 1900-2300, Tuesday February 26 at 0800-1200. Sign up in the radio room.
Results are slowly dribbling in from the state. Congratulations to Wendella Doggett and Brian Haig, two more new EMTs.
Congratulations to our new EMTs: Lauren Apgar, Kyle Heys, Jessica Niederer, Kristen Orlandi, Kelly Thompson, and Morgan Zang. Hope to see you on many calls soon.
We expect to see more new EMTs on this list when the State finishes grading the tests for our other new students.
PFAS salutes the top ten responders for 2007; Julianna Aberger, Neal Blackwell, Daniel Boone, Ellyn Gerberding, Richard Gordon, John Muccioli, Zay Risinger, Kirk Schmitt, Tom Tedd, and Heather Varrasse. Together these ten responded to 1379 calls for help from our community.
PFAS top ten responders for 2007
Daily rig checks may now be done on line. Members are urged to try it and send feedback to the Assistant Captain. We expect this will result in faster correction of problems and better inventory control. The form is in the forms section for members only.
Individual loginIDs and passwords were issued to members tonight for access to the "for members" portion of this website. If you did not get one, call the Assistant Captain. The generic loginID and password will be retired in two weeks.
The new Ferno stretchers and Stat Trac fastening systems purchased with a grant from Merrill-Lynch have arrived and are being installed. Ambulance 151-3 was the first converted.
All members are urged to practice with the new system before they need to use them. A training session will be held at 18:30 11-Dec-2007, preceding the regular monthly meeting.
Some new rules for filling out emsCharts will be discussed by the Captain at the next monthly meeting, 11-Dec-2007.
We are pleased to announce the graduation of 35 students from the Pennington First Aid Squad's fall EMT-B class. The graduation ceremony took place November 17 at the Hopewell Township Municipal building where an overflow crowd heard talks from our education director Julie Aberger and Hopewell Township Police Chief George Meyer. The video "New Jersey Volunteer EMS Opens Doors was also shown followed by presentation of diplomas and an expression of thanks and gifts from the class to the instructors.
Of the 35 students, 13 will ride with PFAS, 8 with Titusville, and 5 with Hopewell. The importance of volunteers to the Hopewell valley was emphasized by the fact that the PFAS was toned out for two EMS calls during the graduation ceremony.
Fall 2007 EMT-B class
Knox Boxes are now operational on all three ambulances.
Our thanks to Merrill Lynch for a special grant of $15000 to replace our stretchers and stretcher mounting system.
Robert Krukowski, Director Hopewell Facilities and Helene Garcia, Director Community & Strategic Initiatives present check to President Daniel Boone, Captain Cindy Orlandi, and First Assistant Captain Kirk Schmitt
