SVAS celebrates 40th birthday July 10

SALISBURY — On Sunday, July 10, Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service (SVAS) will celebrate its 40th anniversary at the Grove in Lakeville. Members, past and present, will be honored, as will the community at large, which has been so supportive of the ambulance service over the years. The event is scheduled to run from 3 to 6 p.m., with a special ceremony honoring past and present squad members at 4 p.m. Residents of all the area towns are invited.Forty years ago, a fatal auto accident in Salisbury prompted concerned citizens to start an emergency response team. This event marked the founding of the ambulance service. The late William Rees Harris is widely credited with being the driving force behind the formation of SVAS. The core group of volunteers was small, only 13 people. The current roster numbers 59.Back then the dispatch service was rudimentary at best. Squad member Mike Brenner remembers getting calls from The White Hart inn that there was an emergency and then, like the old game of telephone tag, he would call another squad member, who would call a third person and so on. Sometimes a responding member would just get in his or her car and drive to another volunteer’s house and blow the horn. Over the years, the system was refined and formalized. Now calls come from Litchfield County Dispatch (which provides 911 service for most towns in the region) out of its headquarters in Torrington. All members of the squad are equipped with radios and pagers. Some members even get call information texted to their cell phones.Brenner, the squad’s rescue chief, holds the distinction of being the longest-serving SVAS volunteer; he joined the squad more than 33 years ago. The list of squad members past and present is a who’s who of familiar town names: Harney, Lloyd, Barton, Harris, Kiefer, Whitbeck. Emergency response has come a long way. The first ambulance was a specially equipped Ford wagon. Now SVAS has two state-of-the-art ambulances, a rescue truck, an ATV and a Gator (equipped with a cot) for the off-road rescues that are common in this area. Emergency Medical Technician courses for prospective members are offered yearly at the SVAS headquarters, across the street from The White Hart. Jacquie Rice, SVAS chief of service, recently announced that Salisbury had been named a Heart Safe Community. This signifies that Salisbury is uniquely qualified to respond to cardiac emergencies. In real terms that translates to the number of AEDs (automatic external defibrillator) positioned around town and the large number of community members, in addition to squad members, who are trained in CPR. Salisbury Bank & Trust holds yearly CPR training for their employees, and there are AEDs at the bank branches in Salisbury and Lakeville. There are also AEDs at Town Hall, the Grove, Salisbury Central School and all the prep schools in town, and 10 squad members keep them in their vehicles. A few years ago, the Kellner family donated 10 of the AEDs to SVAS. Salisbury is the first community in the Northwest Corner to be awarded the Heart Safe distinction.