Chief Grambs was interviewed about his experiences during September 11, 2001, when he was a Captain at Lindenwood VAC, a community based volunteer ambulance in Queens, NY.
Chief Grambs ensured that his agency was able to continue operations and community coverage while one of their ambulances was dedicated to the response in downtown Manhattan and several members were unaccounted for in the first couple of hours after the collapse of the towers. “Luckily, all of the members of Lindenwood VAC were safe, but two nearby volunteer agencies suffered losses of their ambulance and one lost a member in the collapse.”, recounts Chief Grambs.
SWEMS is proud of the combined length of service of our many volunteers.
Chief Grambs has been an EMT since 1994 and involved in various levels of EMS agency leadership for over 22 years. Assistant Chief Tucker has been an EMT for 16 years (and involved in Emergency Services for almost 10 years before that) and has been in various EMS administrative positions for 4 years. Our board President, Sue Walker, has been in charge of the Board since SWEMS was first conceived. Our active membership has over 100 years of EMS field experience and over 35 years of combined leadership experience. This depth of combined experience of our members is a key driver of the success of our organization.
SWEMS is always looking for ways to bring leadership training to our agency. We have a robust EMS Juniors program and offer all members access to EMS seminars and continuing education. Education and experience with our agency are not limited to EMS, our volunteers are able to join committees involved in Grant Writing, Fund Raising, Quality Assurance, Building management, and more. The experiences and knowledge our volunteers receive are not only great life experience, they are also great resume builders.
If you are interested in joining any EMS Agency or Fire Department in our region, please visit www.volunteersteuben.us and complete the form. We will send your interest to the closest agency.
