WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES OCTOBER 22, 2020 7
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
ambulance corps got their start
Members of the Glendale Volunteer Ambulance Corps, with Assemblyman Mike Miller, in December 2012. File photo/Ridgewood Times
the ambulance he was riding in as an
attendant was involved in a crash with
another automobile on Aug. 21, 1975.
More than 2,500 members from
volunteer ambulance corps and other
organizations paid their fi nal tribute
to Libraro, who gave his life serving the
needs of others.
The corps also loaned, free of charge,
items such as crutches, wheelchairs,
canes, commodes and hospital beds
to those in the community in need of
them.
RIDGEWOOD
FOLLOWS SUIT
The Ridgewood Volunteer Ambulance
Corps arrived on the local scene on Sept.
1, 1975, providing the area with free
ambulance service and emergency fi rst
aid.T
he corps operated 12 hours a day
and 24 hours on the weekends, and was
based in 1977 out of two storefronts at
66-20 Fresh Pond Rd., with more than
100 active and non-active members putting
in two or more six-hour shift s each
month.
The Ridgewood Corps was able to
purchase a 1969 air-conditioned Cadillac
fully equipped with oxygen, suction
and other life-supporting equipment
through contributions received from
individuals and organizations before
the corps went on the road. Equipment
was loaned free to residents for those
who need it.
Each volunteer underwent an extensive
and modern 56-hour advanced fi rst
aid course, while six members went on to
a 91-hour EMT course.
JOINING FORCES
In recent years, as funding and membership
waned, the Ridgewood, Glendale
and Middle Village Volunteer Ambulance
Corps decided to come together
and work with each other, rather than
as separate entities.
As the Ridgewood Times reported in
April 2019, the units decided to maintain
their individual identities while operating
as one cohesive organization:
Sean Graves from the Ridgewood Volunteer
Ambulance Corps told those at the
Community Board 5’s April 10 meeting
that with so many commonalities between
the three organizations, operations would
streamlined into one.
“This was an eff ort undertaken by both
parties to ensure the longevity of volunteer
ambulance services throughout the
community,” Graves said. “We also have
the Glendale Volunteer Ambulance
Corp. who has come to the table and we
are merging with them. As of today the
Ridgewood VAC owns and operates all
three services.”
Graves said that city ambulances in
Board 5 are critical since recent incidences
of city services taking longer to reach patients
in a timely manner.
Community VACs are only meant to
be a supplemental service to professional
ambulance providers such as through the
city, but Graves stressed the importance of
having responders at scenes to provide aid
regardless.
Editor’s note: Excerpts of this article
sourced from “Our Community: It’s History
and People, Greater Ridgewood
Historical Society, 1976.”
* * *
If you have any remembrances or old
photographs of “Our Neighborhood: The
Way It Was” that you would like to share
with our readers, please write to the Old
Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell
Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send an email
to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com. Any
print photographs mailed to us will be
carefully returned to you upon request.
The fi rst ambulance for the Ridgewood Volunteer Ambulance Corps,
parked outside the unit’s fi rst headquarters on Fresh Pond Road.
Courtesy Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
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