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The Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad [1] was established in 1950 as an all-volunteer EMS agency providing free service to a community of approximately 55,000 residents, including half of Montgomery County, Virginia, and the Town of Blacksburg. The squad has about 120 members, including community members with full-time jobs, as well as high school and college students.
Blacksburg Volunteer Life Saving and First Aid Crew, Inc. was organized in the spring of 1950, with 25 active members. The first vehicle was a Chevrolet panel truck purchased from Blacksburg Motor Company. The vehicle was housed at the Blacksburg Esso gas station until a shed could be built near the old two-bay fire station behind the old Town Hall. The first activity report submitted to the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads dated September 1, 1951, to September 1, 1952, listed 96 calls for that year. In 1953, due to most members also serving on the Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department, the two groups merged becoming the Blacksburg Volunteer Fire Department and First Aid Crew. The group stayed together until January 1, 1986. At that time, due to the growth of the area and the time and training required, they split into two separate organizations.
In 1957, Blacksburg Town Council provided funds for the construction of a building to house the equipment of the Blacksburg Volunteer Fire and First Aid Crew. The building on Progress Street was designed to provide space for four vehicles, a meeting hall and a storage room. In 1958, the town annexed a portion of the county, thus doubling the population and adding a considerable number of residences and business establishments. All this new territory became the responsibility of the crew. In 1969 due to state regulations, most of the area funeral homes discontinued ambulance service, placing an extra burden on the rescue crew. In 1971, the crew bought its first custom-built ambulance. The crew completed its first Emergency Medical Technician's course in 1972. This growth required some expansion of the crew and of the crew hall. In 1981 the Progress Street station was expanded, and the crew purchased its first Advanced Life Support ambulance.
In 1986 the BVRS became an independent organization. In 1989, for the first time in its 39-year history, the squad brought home its first two trophies from the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squad's annual convention held at Virginia Beach. The squad continues to grow at a phenomenal rate to keep up with the growth of Blacksburg. With no end in sight for the town’s growth, the squad will continue to adapt and implement the latest in life saving techniques and equipment.
Summer of 2016 saw BVRS move into a new purpose built station, Station 5, on the corner of Progress and Patrick Henry.
In 2017, BVRS received the Virginia Governor’s EMS Award for Outstanding EMS Agency. [2]
Sept. 30, 2003 - An accident at an apartment building known as the “Solar House” resulted in a fatality and multiple injuries. A punk rock concert at a Blacksburg rental house where man died and others were injured after falling from a third-story window. BVRS responded and transported many patients. [3]
The April 16, 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, was at the time the worst mass shooting in U.S. history by one gunman where 32 students and faculty were shot and killed. BVRS responded with six ambulances and 42 BVRS members.
After the Virginia State Police forensic examiners completed scene examination and documentation, BVRS transported or coordinated the transport of 32 victims to the Medical Examiner’s Officer in Roanoke.
On Sunday, August 19, 2007, a total of 23 students were overcome by carbon monoxide in a Blacksburg apartment complex and were taken the hospital. Five of these patients were airlifted to UVA Medical Center or Duke University Medical Center for serious complications from the carbon monoxide poisoning.
December 31, 2010, three people were injured when an explosion tore open a section of the Federal-Mogul building in Blacksburg. The explosion occurred around 9:30 a.m. The first emergency responders on the scene reported at least two people with serious burns who were airlifted to Baptist Hospital at Wake Forest University in North Carolina [4]
On a late winter afternoon in 2011, multiple fire, rescue and EMS units were dispatched to the edge of a rural farm for a patient trapped in the entrance of a cave. Before the 12-hour rescue was successfully completed at 3:00 A.M., over 50 first responders and a medical evacuation helicopter team were involved in the slow procedure of freeing the patient in 14-degree temperature. [5]
The core function of BVRS. Care is provided by approximately 120 volunteer EMTs, AEMTs, and Paramedics.
Cave Rescue - Blacksburg Cave Rescue Group (BCRG) - "is a group of volunteers with specialized cave rescue training based out of the Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad (BVRS). Our group responds to cave rescues that are typically extended operations that require an organized command structure, physical ability, specialized training, and equipment outside the scope of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) calls. We are deployed locally as well as regionally." [6] [7]
Water Rescue - Responds to water related emergencies in conjunction with New River Valley Water Rescue and Recovery Association [8] [9]
Trench Rescue - Responds to trench collapses to provide rescue/recovery
Vertical Rescue - Provides technical and semi-technical high and low angle rope rescue
Search and Rescue - Southwest Virginia Mountain Rescue Group (SWVaMRG) - "We encounter a variety of tasks while on mission that can include: searching for missing persons, searching for downed aircraft, performing semi-technical and technical evacuations, search management, and assisting in disaster recovery. The conglomeration of our training includes, but is not limited to: wilderness medicine, survival skills, land navigation, search tactics, search theory, clue awareness, sign cutting, tracking, remote rescue operations, disaster response, and search management." [10]
Rescue Task Force (RTF) - Additionally trained EMTs wearing body armor that make entry into the "Warm Zone" of an Active Shooter event to imitate triage and treatment. [11] [12]
Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. They may also be known as a first aid squad, FAST squad, emergency squad, ambulance squad, ambulance corps, life squad or by other initialisms such as EMAS or EMARS.
An emergency medical technician is a medical professional that provides emergency medical services. EMTs are most commonly found serving on ambulances and in fire departments in the US and Canada, as full-time and some part-time departments require their firefighters to be EMT certified.
A certified first responder is a person who has completed a course and received certification in providing pre-hospital care for medical emergencies. Certified individuals should have received much more instruction than someone who is trained in basic first aid and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) but they are not necessarily a substitute for more advanced emergency medical care rendered by emergency medical technicians and paramedics. First responders typically provide advanced first aid level care, CPR, and automated external defibrillator (AED) usage. The term "certified first responder" is not to be confused with "first responder", which is a generic term referring to the first medically trained responder to arrive on scene and medically trained telecommunication operators who provide pre-arrival medical instructions as trained Emergency Medical Dispatchers (EMD). Many police officers and firefighters are required to receive training as certified first responders. Advanced medical care is typically provided by EMS, although some police officers and firefighters also train to become emergency medical technicians or paramedics.
Hatzalah is the title used by many Jewish volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) organizations serving mostly areas with Jewish communities around the world, giving free medical service to patients regardless of their religion. Most local branches operate independently of each other, but use the common name. The Hebrew spelling of the name is always the same, but there are many variations in transliteration, such as Hatzolah, Hatzoloh, and Hatzola. It is also often called Chevra Hatzalah, which loosely translates as "Company of Rescuers", "Group of Rescuers", or "Rescue Squad". It is the largest volunteer medical group in the United States.
The Central Park Medical Unit (CPMU) is an all-volunteer ambulance service that provides completely free emergency medical service to patrons of Central Park and the surrounding streets, in Manhattan, New York City, United States.
A nontransporting EMS vehicle, also known as a squad car, fly-car, response vehicle, quick response service (QRS) vehicle, chase car, or fast response vehicle, is a vehicle that responds to and provides emergency medical services (EMS) without the ability to transport patients. For patients whose condition requires transport, an ambulance is necessary. In some cases they may fulfill other duties when not participating in EMS operations, such as policing or fire suppression.
NSW Ambulance, previously the Ambulance Service of NSW, is an agency of NSW Health and the statutory provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in the state of New South Wales, Australia.
In the United States, emergency medical services (EMS) provide out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care for those in need. They are regulated at the most basic level by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets the minimum standards that all states' EMS providers must meet, and regulated more strictly by individual state governments, which often require higher standards from the services they oversee.
Emergency Medical Service in Germany is a service of public pre-hospital emergency healthcare, including ambulance service, provided by individual German cities and counties. It is primarily financed by the German public health insurance system.
Middletown First Aid and Rescue Squad is located in Middletown Township, New Jersey. It is completely volunteer agency providing basic life support services for medical emergencies for the residents and visitors of Middletown Twp. It was established in 1933.
The Park Slope Volunteer Ambulance Corps, or PSVAC, is a community organization that provides emergency medical response, rescue operations, patient assessment, treatment, and transport in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. Since 1992, members have responded to over ten thousand calls for help.
Emergency medical responders are people who are specially trained to provide out-of-hospital care in medical emergencies, typically before the arrival of an ambulance. Specifically used, an Emergency Medical Responder is an EMS certification level used to describe a level of EMS provider below that of an emergency medical technician and paramedic. However, the EMR is not intended to replace the roles of such providers and their wide range of specialties.
A mass casualty incident describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties. For example, an incident where a two-person crew is responding to a motor vehicle collision with three severely injured people could be considered a mass casualty incident. The general public more commonly recognizes events such as building collapses, train and bus collisions, plane crashes, earthquakes and other large-scale emergencies as mass casualty incidents. Events such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 are well-publicized examples of mass casualty incidents. The most common types of MCIs are generally caused by terrorism, mass-transportation accidents, fires or natural disasters. A multiple casualty incident is one in which there are multiple casualties. The key difference from a mass casualty incident is that in a multiple casualty incident the resources available are sufficient to manage the needs of the victims. The issue of resource availability is therefore critical to the understanding of these concepts. One crosses over from a multiple to a mass casualty incident when resources are exceeded and the systems are overwhelmed.
The Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad is one of the ten volunteer rescue squads of the City of Virginia Beach, Department of EMS, Emergency Medical Services that serves as the medical emergency response and rescue services agency to the citizens and visitors of Virginia Beach. This is the largest rescue squad in the largest all-volunteer based EMS system in the United States. Each rescue squad in the system is housed in a city-owned EMS/Fire station, with the exception of four privately owned rescue stations, including the two owned by VBVRS.
The Virginia Tech Rescue Squad (VTRS) is an emergency medical services (EMS) agency that serves the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Founded in 1969, it is an all-volunteer, student-run organization that provides emergency medical service to the University community. Virginia Tech Rescue Squad maintains four advanced life support ambulances, a first response vehicle, a command vehicle, a John Deere gator 4x4 special response vehicle and a special operations truck with in-station crews ready for service 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The crew also maintains a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) Response Trailer and a Mobile Utility and Logistics Equipment (MULE) trailer.
The New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services is a division of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) in charge of emergency medical services for New York City. It was established on March 17, 1996, following the merger of the FDNY and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation's emergency medical services division. FDNY EMS provides coverage of all five boroughs of New York City with ambulances and a variety of specialized response vehicles.
Air medical services are the use of aircraft, including both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to provide various kinds of medical care, especially prehospital, emergency and critical care to patients during aeromedical evacuation and rescue operations.
The Virginia Beach Department of Emergency Medical Services is the 911 EMS provider for Virginia Beach, Virginia. Virginia Beach is the largest city in the United States with a volunteer based EMS system. Since the 1940s Virginia Beach has offered free pre-hospital emergency services through 10 volunteer rescue squads supported by 1,100+ volunteers throughout the city. Virginia beach EMS has also been a leader in a variety of pre-hospital technologies including 12-lead transmission,EZ-IO technology and therapeutic hypothermia,rapid sequence induction and intubation (RSII),video laryngoscope,end tidal CO2 monitoring,S T Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) and Stroke programs and community CardioPulmonary Resuscitation (CPR),among others. These programs and more have contributed to the 36% cardiac arrest survival rate (2012).
The City of Cleveland Division of Emergency Medical Service, also known as Cleveland EMS or CEMS, is the division of the municipal government tasked with emergency ambulance transport for the City of Cleveland, Ohio.