Ambulance dedicated to founding member John Harney Sr.

SALISBURY — A newly acquired ambulance was added to the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service last summer, and on Sunday, Dec. 7, the vehicle was dedicated to the late John Harney Sr., one of the founding members of the ambulance service in 1971.

In Mike Brennan’s introductory remarks, he mentioned the “John Harney Bad Driving Award.”

He said that in the early days of the ambulance service, the drivers often found themselves “in unique and surprising situations.” Some of these involved heroic driving efforts; all the drivers took part but the award was named in honor of Harney.

He said Harney was a “jovial presence” in the squad.

Elyse Harney spoke, all the while holding a leash attached to an energetic dachshund. 

She said The White Hart switchboard functioned as the call and dispatch center for the ambulance service. She and her late husband were the innkeepers at The White Hart at that time. 

She said the early ambulance members, including Rees Harris, were very dedicated and put in very long hours.

“The responses in those days were amazingly fast.”

She said her husband often “went to bed with his clothes laid out on a chair, ready for the call to come in.”

She said the proximity of the Appalachian Trail and Mount Riga made for some exciting and perilous calls.

One time a couple of sisters hiked to the waterfall on Wachocastinook Brook on Mount Riga. One of the girls slipped and was going over, but her sister managed to grab her arm.

And there they remained until the ambulance arrived. 

“John got a rope across and slithered across and rescued the girls.”

There were some light-hearted moments, too.

At one point The White Hart’s sign disappeared. A reward was offered, but nobody responded.

Then the ambulance got a call for assistance from a man who lived “at the bottom of Smith Hill.”

John Harney had suspected the man of swiping the sign.

“So there was a little mano a mano in the back of the ambulance,” said Elyse Harney.

“And the sign came back.”

 

 

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