Post Family Flycar – Thank You Passing on the Torch

Post Family
Yet another testament to the success of Post is its appeal across generations and among parents and siblings.
Doug Herling (’04), the son of Nancy Campbell Herling (’77), was our first Post “legacy.” Doug is a current senior
at Colgate. In June, the family traveled to England to see Doug row at Henley. Post is happy to have
Nancy back again, training to be an Adult Advisor. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of
Darien EMS-Post 53, Inc.
Former Post President, TM Gibbons Neff (’06), is now in the United States Marine Corps as a Lance
Corporal Rifleman, Bravo Company 1st Battlion 6th Marine Regiment. The Post family wishes him
well during his tour of duty.
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We are also fortunate to have three former presidents, Matt Kowalski (‘02), Stephen Bloom (‘05)
and Charlie Hannon (‘07) traveling from their respective colleges and job
to provide EMT-Intermediate level coverage for Post 53 crews.
In addition Scott Shear and Mark Chiodo, two former officers
from the graduating class 2006, have also assisted with many
hours of weekend EMT-I coverage. Both Scott and Mark
are sophomores majoring in emergency medical
management at Springfield College.
Please don’t forget to keep your contact information up to date on the
alumni link at www.post53.org. Also, any Post alumni with news should
contact Kristin Altorfer at [email protected].
TM Gibbons Neff (‘06)
and Scott Shear (‘06)
Passing on the Torch
“We will try our best to follow in the footsteps of our
great leaders from last year—these are tough boots
to fill.”
–Sarah Streeter, President 2007-2008
Back row left to right, 2006-2007 Officers: Wells Landers, Secretary;
Emily Stout, VP Programming; Charles Hannon, President; Kim Morris,
VP Training; missing Mark Andreae, VP Operations and Andrew
McGowen, Treasurer
Front row, 2007-2008 Officers in front of their predecessor in office:
Anthony Dushku, Mike Martinoli, Sarah Streeter, Meredith Koch,
Chris Calahan and Kate Kevorkian
Flycar – Thank You
During the summer, the Post took delivery of a new Ford
Explorer, which was fully outfitted as the new flycar for
our EMT-Intermediates to use when responding to calls.
The new flycar was funded with a generous gift from the
Darien Lions Club and the emergency lights were
donated by the Crane Foundation, Inc, associated
with Crane Co., a Stamford-based corporation.
Susan Warren said, “This new vehicle was badly needed.
Our previous first response flycar was nearly five years
old and beginning to show its age. We cannot thank our
donors enough for their continuing support of the Post.
This vehicle will be used to help over 1,200 people a year
who are having a medical emergency.”
Post Goes Paperless
Post 53 recently completed a year-long transition to mobile, computerized patient reporting, led by The Alpha Team Posties Emily
Fawcett (‘07), Jake Martin (‘07), Alex Simon (‘07) and Meredith Koch (‘08) and assisted by Adult Advisor to Technology
Matt Kowalski (‘02).
Presidents Stephen Bloom (‘05), Thomas M Gibbons-Neff (’06) and Charles Hannon (‘07), along with Advisor and Director Susan
Warren made the presentation to the Board of Directors of the Darien Technology Foundation and received a generous
grant to support this vital need of our service. With this gift, and the amazing cooperative technology expertise of the members of
the Alpha Team, Post 53 was able to meet the State of CT’s mandate to be compliant with an electronic reporting system. As a result,
each Post 53 ambulance is now equipped with a state-of-the-art all-weather touch-screen laptop computer, enabling EMT’s to create
computerized patient care reports at any location.
Rather than rely upon costly commercial software the Posties redesigned and customized a visionary software program that was created
by former Postie (and still-active) Adult Advisor Rob Clark (‘82). “The team of young adults led the project with incredible dedication and
enthusiasm,” says Adult Advisor Bill Baird, who mentored the project. “It’s easy to use because the EMT sees the same report on screen
that they saw on paper for the past decade. They just touch the screen or type to fill it in.”
The most unexpected benefit from the project? “The emergency department loves it because our reports
are much easier to read,” Baird said. “But the most important benefit is that call and care statistics are instantly
available. We now know for example that our patients are becoming older, so we’ve increased
training in geriatric care. Cars are so much safer and the traffic on I-95 heavier, a third of our calls to
I-95 are now medical calls at the rest stops, not trauma calls.”
The biggest challenge? “Getting the Adult Advisors adapted to it. The kids adapt
to new technology a lot faster than we do. The iPhone
Brittany Coley works on the
Generation led the Pepsi Generation on this one.” Baird said.
new toughbook.
In the News
Darien EMS Post 53 has rightfully received some
national news coverage in the past year. On
December 29, 2006, CBS Evening News, with Katie
Couric, featured our Young Adults in school and
on duty. President at the time, Charles Hannon
was quoted saying, “I consider it a job, I have to
fulfill. If I don’t, somebody’s life is at risk.”
In the May 7, 2007 issue of People Magazine,
the Post was highlighted as People Heroes
Among Us, in an article entitled “Teens to
the Rescue!”
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Post is fortunate that Tim Warren (‘85) son of
Tim Wa
rren sh
ooting
Darien EMS Director Susan Warren and Renny
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Warren, who has spent the last 18 years working in
ell
the television industry as a writer, producer and director will produce a
video for Post 53. His vision is to produce a high-quality, comprehensive and accurate documentary of
Post 53 that outlines the organization’s structure, its history, its mission and the experience of Post 53 members’ fouryear journey. Tim says, “The often-asked question is why would a teenager do this?” The film will answer this question as
well as why Post 53 is the only organization of its kind in the world.
Post 53 Limette Doble Memorial
17th Annual Art Show
Proceeds Benefit Post 53’s
All-Volunteer Ambulance Operations
• Friday, Nov. 16
6:00-9:30pm
Vital Statistics (July-Sept 2007)
• 321 ambulance calls, of
which 37 were between
midnight and 7am
• Saturday, Nov. 17
12:00-3:00pm
• 108 patients were
transported for lifethreatening illness
• Sunday, Nov. 18
12:00-3:00pm
• 34 times there were 2 or
more ambulances which responded to calls
Held at Post 53 Headquarters Zero Ledge Road.
• 73 tanks of Oxygen were used
non-profit
us postage
paid
darien ct 06820
permit no 127
P.O. Box 2066,
Darien, CT 06820
www.post53.org
Darien EMS - Post 53 is a private, non-profit service that uses highly trained and state-certified Darien High School
students, as well as adult advisors, to deliver advanced emergency ambulance service to the families and businesses of Darien.
President: Sarah Streeter • Advisor: Susan Warren
P.O. Box 2066, Darien, CT 06820 • 203-655-8980 • www.post53.org
Post in the Community
Darien EMS Post 53 not only responds to 9-1-1 emergency calls with one of the fastest reponse times in the
state but is active and visible in the Darien community throughout the year. Here are just a few of the places
you will see us.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
• Ox Ridge Horse Show
• Big Rig Gig
• Hindley Happening
• Fire Department
Open House
FIRST AID & CPR CLASSES
Classes are offered during the year
to the community, as well as to
other members of the Darien First
Responder team – the police and
fire personnel.
• Darien Road Race
• ITP Triathlon
ATHLETICS
• Darien Junior Football
• DHS Football and Ice Hockey
• Darien Ice Rink Free Skates
• Challenger Games
BLOOD PRESSURES
Blood pressures are taken every Sunday at
Post headquarters at Zero Ledge Road from
10:00am–1:00pm free to Darien residents.
DARIEN Emergency Medical Services-POST 53 NEWSLETTER
VOL. 3 2007/2008
Training: Cornerstone of EMS Excellence
When you hear the Post 53 sirens or see
their lights flashing, you should know that
the crew responding includes EMS personnel
with well over 1,000 hours of combined
formal training. Occasionally accompanying
us on a 911 call are our Stamford EMS
paramedic partners whose training puts the
emergency team’s experience at well over
the 2,000 hour mark. Add in the Darien
Police Department and the Darien Fire
Department (important components of our
“first responder” community), and the number
of training hours becomes…well…too many to
calculate.
Every Post 53 team brings years of invaluable
EMS experience gained through their initial
Spring 2007 EMT class extrication training including the Darien Fire Department.
classroom training and numerous ambulance calls
and patient care. And while we often publish the
figure of 140 hours which refers to the initial EMT
training course needed to become Connecticut-certified; what many people don’t know is the outstanding quality of
our on-going training received from our extraordinary local partners. On any given Wednesday night our bimonthly training meeting could be conducted by the Head of Trauma at Stamford
Hospital or a seasoned Trauma Nurse Supervisor from one of our local hospitals.
Additionally, this past year, Stamford Emergency Room has allowed EMT students
to “shadow” physicians in the care of patients who have arrived at the hospital,
mostly via ambulance. This offers a great learning
experience for the prospective EMTs of Post 53. Posties training in spine
immobilization techniques.
Always eager to learn and extend our training,
Post 53 also holds a monthly call review with
Joe Larchveque, Stamford Hospital’s EMS Quality
Control Director who critiques several EMS calls
that extends our EMS learning. During these
discussions, we learn the results of our patient
care and what actions the doctors took with the
patient. It helps us to better understand how
we can provide the best possible outcome for
the patient.
•
•
•
Did you know?
Over 50% of
the active yo
ung
adults partic
ipate in
high school sp
orts such as tr
ack,
sailing, cheerl
eading and gi
rls
ice hockey.
More than 40
2 pizzas are
delivered to
Post 53 annu
ally.
Posties do am
bulance was
hing
206 times a ye
ar.
The years of being in Post 53 have benefited many “Post alumni” who have gone into the
medical profession. Post 53 has also benefited recently by having several “Post Doctors” return to share their
knowledge with us: Dr.Tania Nisernblatt (‘97), an OB/Gyn doctor at Stamford Hospital, Dr.Julie Kolakowski Sweeney
(‘97), a pediatric resident at the Children’s Hospital in Westchester and Dr. Jessica Brown van Voorhess (‘95) who started
her residency in Brookyln this past summer.