Life Saving Progress
As Templeton
continues to celebrate its 250th anniversary, it has become apparent the
dedication that has been shown by the many individuals who have made up the
fire department. This includes both fire
and EMS sides of the department.
Probably the most impressive progress has been shown by the department
ambulance. Medical response began as a
few EMTs and first responders being notified by phone and transporting in a
refurbished police cruiser. These
members went door to door collecting donations to purchase supplies and an
ambulance when needed. Unfortunately,
beyond anyone’s control, call volume and ambulance prices increased over four
times from what I have seen in the town reports. This led to the ambulance being brought
completely under the fire department.
The one thing the increase in call volume did not change was the need
for skilled EMTs to staff the ambulance.
Templeton has been fortunate enough to have its own transport ambulance
for many years. Without this ability to
transport certainly countless individuals would have died waiting and hoping an
out of town ambulance would arrive.
Templeton has tried with no success to put full time members in the
stations to cut down on its response times. Hopefully this will eventually change,
bringing medical or fire response to our citizens even quicker. In the paper recently I saw that even our
tiny neighbor of Phillipston has seen the need for getting EMTs and
firefighters to their citizens quickly and put on a fulltime firefighter/EMT,
and Templeton has almost five times the calls.
Having these community members there to bring you to the hospital is
very comforting to a patient. Our town
is so lucky to be able to transport our own patients instead of handing them
off to another agency like some less personal communities. So next time you see a member of the
department at church or another local establishment, reach out and thank them
for being there prepared to save your life.
When I was eleven my dad had his first lung operstion. Less than two years later, dad had to have his other lung worked on. These operations were done in Gardner. At that time they did not even have a ICU. Mom had to hire a private nurse. Thru the years dad fought constant complications from things like the common cold. When I was sixteen dad was very sick, and could not get better. At one point we called the doctor, because dad could not even stand on his feet. He told us to get dad to the hospital. We called the police, and Mr. Whipple showed up with a couple of other guys, and the "ambulance". This was a station wagon, outfitted as best as they could in those days. I had to go tell dad the ambulance was coming for him. His response was" your getting me pinched". He never lost his sence of humor. He was in the hospital for weeks, finally coming home to get on his feet. This first attempt at a rescue squard, may not have been first class, but it worked. My dad with the help of good doctors, and new medications
ReplyDeletegot to live to his eighties. We have always had a good fire department. The guys that do this are so brave. This is alot to ask of anyone, to fight a fire, and to save a life if need be. So what is stopping Templeton from achieveing a first class rescue squard? One thing has been the leadership needed to go forward. Hopefully with a new Chief, this will get better. I am praying that the selectmen make the right decision and hire Mr. Lapoint as the new leader. We will find this out at the next meeting. The next stumbling block is always money, or the lack of it. Yes, I know you have heard this all before. Do you know the little town of Phillipston has money in their stabelization accounts? We don't, that for one thing makes a huge difference. People want, a new school, Police dept.building, Town hall, Rescue Squard,{ up to date} The reality is, we are going to have a hard time to support the things we have already. It bothers me when the school people just want the school. What they don't understand is none of these departments stands alone. Our town is the tree trunk. Each of the departments is a branch. Without a health tree, the branches will never be healthy. When I say, please come and support us, I am not talking about me. It is the people who are trying to patch up a sick tree trunk. The past ten years have pretty much raped the town of any extra money we should have had. The big retirements that people set them selves up with, the money owed for 252 Baldwinville Road, all this stuff, is going to have to be paid for on the backs of the taxpayer. There is no other place for this money to come from. This all was done under our noses, because we trusted the wrong people. When I say we need help, I am not kidding. The number of homeless kids in this town should be 0, but it is not. There will be nothing new until people feel like they can afford it, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it is true. For some people just getting thru this winter is going to be hard. Support the new Advisory Board, they are putting guidelines that will be the building blocks of the town for the next 250 years. Offer to help out on the boards that need new members. You will feel better, when the day comes that our Town of Templeton has what it needs to continue to grow, and you know in your heart that you helped.. Bev.
Ijust want to say thank you to the person that wrote about the fire dept. our equip may be old or broken. but the members of the dept will still do the best we can with what we have. no matter what time of day or night. once again thanks for your support
DeleteThank you Bev. You always seem to be able to say the right things. We have a bunch of good guys on the fire and ambulance dept. We can't forget that. Bev, thanks for reminding us of those dedicated men. Now we need Mr. Laporte to head up the team. I hope the Selectmen do the right thing. Thank you Fire and Ambulance men. We do support you.
DeleteIn a nut shell, are there any of us who have not had to call the EMTs. Do any of us really want to wait for an outside ambulance service? not me, I've been there, having to call rescue, what was only minutes seems like forever when it is your loved one. Our EMTs and firefights deserve our utmost support. Thanks to all for your dedication. and Mr Mullins lets stop all this talk about getting rid of EMS. Tell me do you have any original ideas or just Jerry Skeltons?
ReplyDeleteI would like to say thank you to all of the firefighters and EMT's who have donated countless hours to serve the residents of Templeton. The time and dedication of these people is incredible.
ReplyDeleteI do think an ambulance service is important to the town. I am hopeful the change in accounting - the establishment of an ambulance receipt account is one step to protecting the residents.
Thank you for all you do!
What Templeton needs to do, in my opinion is regionalize the health agent and the buiding inspector with gardner, gardner is on board with this as it helps both communities and if templeton does regionalization for dispatch and lockup (phillipston has regionalized dispatch with Templeton for a number of years and it works for them) That should begin a decent savings to Templeton, along with the receipts account for the ambulance, should equal more than enough to cover full-time EMS. It may also help with grant money. Mr. mullins most likely wants to let go of ems so mr. bankowski will have less to do if he were to be made fire chief, which is a bad idea in my opinion, local is not always best, see past town coordinator and treasurer. Just the way the cards have fallen. Tammy coller lived out of town and so does Jeff Ritter. Also perhaps mr stewart, ms wilder and mr mullens should post their meetings next time they have a meeting in the town coordinators office. Please keep attendance at selectmen meetings at a high level.
ReplyDeleteJeff should you Julie and Jeff Ritter have posted all your private meetings at Pauly's House?? Maybe Julie and Jeff Ritter should post their private meetings at Pauly's House also. You will never get my vote again!
ReplyDeleteAs if you ever voted for him in the first place, Gerry.
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What meetings at Pauly's house? No business, just a chance to have a beer, a glass of wine, I drink soda, and time to talk about anything but town problems. Old people have fun too! Bev.
DeleteAnd if you are going to attack anyone you should atleast spell the names correct and make their fisrt and last names capitalized. You look like an idiot with the incorrect name spelling you have worked with them long enough to get that right.
ReplyDeleteHey Black Kettle, Do you really want to get into spelling and grammar? Get a grip Carol.
Delete#9
First off, grammar on a blog after a 16 hour day is not my first priority. At least I blog under my own name so you know who I am, rather than hiding behind anonymous. I really do not care if you think I am an idiot or not because of some spelling/grammar errors, people get the meaning. I also do not believe stating an opinon is attacking anyone. So you have your opinion and I have mine. Only public meetings or a meeting of a quorum of members is required to be posted under the law, you may wish to look that up. Perhaps you should check with b columbus, bankowski mullins and wilder about their meetings along with phone contacts with Len K. So perhaps anonymous, the next time you wish to call me out, or anyone else, how about using your real name. I am about to put my life on the line, how about you put your name to a blog? Until you are willing to do that, you don't have much credibility with me.
DeleteWell said, Jeff!! And thank you for putting your life on the line for all of us. Please be as safe as you can out there. Prayers for you you to come home soon!! God Bless you & all our troops near & far!
DeleteHow about we act like grown ups and fix our real life problems? Jeff has good suggestions that are worth looking into. Anyone else want to offer up some other ideas as well? Or are we just going to continue to fight like kids on the playground?
ReplyDeleteDo I really care what the people who raped our town, and sucked every cent they could out of it, think? Oh Yah, Like hell I do! You people should be ashamed to show your face! Don't even think you have the right to give a man like Jeff any crap. You got it! We will be spending years , digging out from under the mess that you left. As far as I am conserned, the less I hear from any of from any of the GS group, the better. My opinion, Bev. OH, Jeff give one of us a address, so we can send you and the guys you are friends with, a care package. If you need anything special , let us know that too, Ok.Bev
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