Inlet Volunteer Ambulance Squad

Inlet Ambulance was started by the Inlet American Legion Post #1402 in 1956. In the mid 1990’s the ambulance members formed a new organization called Inlet Volunteer Ambulance Squad. The new organization joined with the Inlet Volunteer Hose Company to form the Inlet Volunteer Emergency Services, Inc. (IVES).

IVES is comprised of two separate organizations that contain shared assets and liabilities. Each group however has its own contracts for service, budgets, members and officers.

The commitment that people must give as a volunteer is very extensive. Our average call lasts about four hours; the ambulance squad averages about 200 calls a year.

To become qualified to be an Emergency Medical Technician requires 150 hours of classroom training. To go on to a higher level involves many more hours.

This does not include travel, drills and meetings. Also, most calls are not predictable, therefore members may experience loss of time from work and family.

Another deterrent is the pressure of the calls. We have many Advanced Life Support (ALS) calls that are truly life and death.

The Ambulance Squad has begun paying ALS personnel to cover their EMS calls. During the summer months and one weekend a month the remainder of the year they hire a paramedic to standby at the station. This paid paramedic checks that the rigs are stocked to specifications set by the New York State Department of Health.

The paramedic also provides training sessions to the volunteer EMTs and drivers. This also saves the volunteers from driving to Utica for the training.

The Ambulance Squad maintains two ALS rigs.