Warrington Community Ambulance Corps (WCAC) is reviving their volunteer program. After naming former C.B. South student Carter Rowe as the new volunteer coordinator, the program is undergoing changes that will increase volunteer activity and benefit.
Paramedic and Clinical Coordinator Michael Ahern has been put in charge of training all new volunteers. Ahern says, “we consider the volunteers to be members the same as paid employees, so they have access to all the same training a paid employee would have access to.”
Warrington Ambulance offers many opportunities to uncertified, curious volunteers.
He also focuses on providing each volunteer with personalized training. Newest members will be provided a CPR course which qualifies them to ride on the ambulance. Ahern “shows them the ropes” and helps them determine if Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is something they want to pursue.
Volunteer Coordinator and EMT Carter Rowe says WCAC has options to help propel volunteers who wish to pursue EMS as a career. Volunteers have access to top-of-the-line equipment, knowledgeable employees, quality training, and the EMT and AEMT SafeTek classes that will be taught at the station.
The program also offers benefits specific to new EMT’s and EMT students. New EMT’s can volunteer at Warrington Ambulance to get the required experience and work history to become a paid EMT.
EMT students volunteering at Warrington get the clinical contacts that are required for class. “We have a lot of very knowledgeable medics that work here,” Ahern says, “and many of them are EMT course instructors.”
In addition to the diverse call volume of the station and access to more training equipment than other ambulance companies, Ahern says Warrington’s willingness to accept untrained volunteers is what sets them apart from other stations.
To be a volunteer at WCAC a prospect must be at least 16 years old, have or be able to obtain an active CPR card, pass a 12-panel drug screening, have a clean criminal background, and an interest in pre-hospital or emergency medicine providers.
The program provides volunteers with the basic uniform and personal protective equipment. In order to maintain a volunteer position at WCAC a volunteer is expected to spend a minimum of 18 hours each month as an active volunteer within the station.
Battalion Chief Clifford Mungavin also plays a big role in the volunteer program. As the Battalion Chief, Mungavin has different insight into the program.
Mungavin says volunteers at WCAC “don’t have to earn the right to be here” in comparison to other stations that require volunteers to work harder to try and feel like a part of the crew. Mungavin ensures that all volunteers are trained to the highest standards and held to those same standards when out on the ambulance.
Mungavin also gets a different view on the effect volunteers have on other people at the station. The presence of volunteers helps employees stay well practiced since they are using their own skills to teach newer members of the station.
“Having volunteers at the station makes us all remember how we got here. A lot of us are burnt out, tired. Having younger volunteers who are excited to learn brings a lot of energy into the building,” says Mungavin.
Volunteers also play vital roles while on calls. Mungavin says, “Volunteers are very helpful on calls, two people on the truck can get really tough and it’s nice to have another person there who can get equipment and just help out.”
Mungavin also brings attention to the fact that aspiring EMTs and Paramedics aren’t the only people who would benefit from volunteering on an ambulance. “You’ve just got to try it and see if you like it. I started volunteering on an ambulance because I wanted to be a firefighter and fell in love with the job. Volunteering as a teenager opens a lot of avenues, it gives you a lot of prework experience.”
The staff at WCAC take great pride in the community they have created within the station. Volunteer Coordinator Carter Rowe says, “If you haven’t worked in EMS you will never understand the comradery that comes with being part of an ambulance crew, you are making critical and lasting decisions. You and your partners make these choices together and the bond it creates is like no other, you will never understand it until you experience it. The guy that’s going to be the best man at my wedding will be one of my partners from the ambulance.”
