No Longer Part of Borough, Volunteer Ambulance Corps Holds Its Own

They were standing by at a between the Harlem Wizards and a team of community all-stars. They from the hospital. They conduct first-aid training girl scouts and boy scouts. They transport people to and from nursing homes—all without getting paid.

The (PVAC) has been a part of Paramus since 1950, though it hasn't been a Borough entity since 2007, when a paid ambulance squad took responsibility for 911 service.

"We have been our own entity since then with no Borough involvement," said Sandi Gunderson, president of the PVAC.

The PVAC was first organized in 1950, spurred by the efforts of Henry Vander Plaat, the first president of the Ambulance Corps. There were less than 20 members at the beginning.

Today 52 emergency medical technicians volunteer with the PVAC. Some join after seeing a relative transported in an ambulance, others have parents and grandparents who were members.

For many members, volunteering with the Corps has served as a launching pad for professional medical careers.

"They just want to do something for the community," said Kathie Fox, a longtime member of the PVAC.

It takes a certain person to become an EMT, with a strong stomach and a dark sense of humor, Gunderson said.

"I can eat a pastrami sandwich and hold somebody's brain," Gunderson said.

Fox remembers being left holding a severed head when a patient on the highway didn't make it all the way to a stretcher.

"I was the one left holding it," she said.

But Fox said it's not the gross-out stories that keep them going.

"You know that when they call us, this is the worst day of their life," Fox said. "The worst moment. And for us to even just go by and hold their hand or rub their shoulder—that's what we're there for."

While the PVAC no longer goes out on 911 calls, the Corps still services the community. PVAC members stand by in case of emergency at community events, like fundraising walks, the Harlem Wizards game and even local boxing matches.

Several members teach CPR classes. The PVAC also loans out home health care equipment, like wheel chairs, canes, crutches and walkers.

And it does so free of charge. The organization gets by on donations.

The Bergen County Regional EMS pays utilities to share the PVAC headquarters on Midland Avenue, but that will end on March 31 after the county program is cut.

"Our biggest problem, as with everyone else, is fundraising," Gunderson said.

The PVAC sends out a fundraising letter every year to residents and local businesses. The money pays for supplies and upkeep for the PVAC ambulance.

Aside from money, Fox said she hoped the PVAC and the Borough could develop a better rapport, despite the divorce of the two entities.

"We just want to be a resource to them and part of the community," she said.