Newtown residents Doug Fuchs and Katie Jorgenson are two of the newest EMTs at Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC), and they could not be happier to support their community.

To them, joining the 24/7 emergency rescue service organization is an opportunity to give back to the town they have both spent so much of their lives in.

Fuchs said he and Jorgenson have both lived in town “for well over 20 years, and this is really a great way to not only be a part of the community, but to give back at the same time.”

Outside of a paramedic contracted to respond to Advanced Life Support calls, NVAC is a 100% volunteer service, according to Fuchs. The organization is made up of dozens of trained EMTs who volunteer their time to support the community, year-round. Newtown Ambulance Assistant Chief Gavin Arneth said that the organization responds to just over 3,000 calls annually. As of Tuesday, October 15, he says that Newtown Ambulance has responded to over 2,461 calls, and is on track to responding to over 3,000 calls for yet another year.

Volunteer services are all “in the same boat,” said Fuchs. “We’re all here doing this, showing up at somebody’s doorstep at two in the morning or two in the afternoon, because they need us, because we care about the town and the people who live here.”

Fuchs and Jorgenson took NVAC’s EMT class that started in early January of this year, where they learned from State of Connecticut certified EMS instructors with decades of experience. They and fellow classmates spent the next four months — every Tuesday and Thursday evening, and one Saturday each month — learning how to be EMTs from instructor Steve Rambone.

While the course is long, Fuchs and Jorgenson both said it went by extremely fast thanks to the live classroom environment.

“It’s not all lecture,” Jorgenson explained. “There’s a lot of hands-on. Half the class is lecture, and half the class is hands-on, so even when you’re just starting, you’re already learning how to do things.” They graduated in April, after which Jorgenson said they had to take a test and a practical exam.

“And then we took the state test in May, and then it was left up to us to do the national test whenever we could,” Jorgenson explained. “We both took ours in May and passed.”

The next step was to move on to training with a field training officer, or FTO.

Supporting The Community

Becoming an EMT was not a decision either of them made overnight. Both always had some interest in becoming one, they said.

Back when she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, Jorgenson says she knew she would either be a nurse or a teacher. She eventually became a teacher, but that did not mean her interest in emergency services ever went away.

“This has always kind of been in me,” Jorgenson said. “I’ve had volunteer EMTs, firemen, and police officers in my family, so it’s always been there. And when I started taking the class [at Newtown Ambulance], I knew I wanted to do it, that I wanted to volunteer.”

Meanwhile, Fuchs has personal experience with emergency services, having spent 30 years as a police officer. Being an EMT is something Fuchs said he “wanted to do for a long time,” so he looked into EMT training after he retired from being a police officer.

“I tried to work the training into my schedule, because I also teach now, and my teaching schedule changed, so that freed up my Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Fuchs said.

With NVAC offering EMT classes every year, everything fell into place for where they were at in life. Fuchs and Jorgenson have known each other for a while before becoming EMTs, as Jorgenson actually worked with Fuchs’s wife for years.

“So when I found out [Jorgenson] was going to be in this class … that kind of sealed the deal,” Fuchs said.

Now that they are EMTs, Fuchs and Jorgenson have taken the opportunity to give back to the community in stride.

The coolest part, Fuchs says, is that Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps members “are your neighbors,” and that there is something to be said for organizations where neighbors have a chance to help each other.

“And it’s not just somebody showing up who happens to be volunteering. These are well intentioned people who have a ton of training behind them. So although it’s a volunteer organization, none of us operate like it’s a volunteer organization,” Fuchs said. “We all work very well together, and it’s all that mission to support one another.”

Jorgenson mentioned in an interview with The Newtown Bee that she took a picture of everyone in Newtown Ambulance marching in this year’s Labor Day Parade. When she posted the photo on Instagram, she affectionately put in the caption “my other family.”

“It’s a cool family,” Fuchs said. “It’s this great camaraderie here, and a passionate team. And that’s not something you get everywhere, easily or often. I think those of us who are in it really appreciate that and what that brings to all of our lives, in addition to what it’s done for the community.”

Fuchs says while there is a lot of training and it may be a time commitment, that the EMT training is as important as it is manageable, interesting, and well put together thanks to NVAC’s live classroom environment.

“And I think that’s important for people who are maybe on the fence or curious, but don’t know what the commitment might look like or whether or not it’s something they can do; it’s a manageable opportunity,” Fuchs said.

While the spring 2024 graduates represent the newest members of the corps, there are many NVAC members who have stayed with the organization for a long time. Arneth told The Newtown Bee this week there are quite a few members who have stayed for over 20 years, and many others have stayed for over 30 years.

On Monday, October 7, EMT Kris Peterson hit the incredible milestone of 40 years since she joined NVAC.

As for Arneth, he says that he has worked in emergency response for a number of years. Arneth has previously been a volunteer firefighter, a police officer, and even an EMT back in the early 1990s.

Arneth’s daughter joined Newtown Ambulance nearly ten years ago, he said. That was when he was inspired to eventually take the organization’s EMT class in January 2020.

While this was right before the COVID-19 pandemic started, Arneth says he was lucky to finish the class — also led by Rambone — and “immediately got to work.” Now the assistant chief of Newtown Ambulance, Arneth is more than happy to be a part of the organization.

“Serving the community has just always been something I’ve been interested in,” Arneth said. “I saw it as an opportunity to give back, and it’s just been a great experience.”

Jorgenson emphasized that people of any age could volunteer as an EMT.

“You don’t have to be retired and make it your full-time thing. You could have a full-time job and then offer staffing when you can once you’re qualified,” Jorgenson said.

What anchors everyone to join Newtown Ambulance as an EMT or at least give training a full shot is their mutual love of the community according to Jorgenson.

“We’re not just doing this just to have something to do. We really do care and have compassion for everyone,” Jorgenson said. “We’re seeing people at some of the worst moments of their lives. And we know that they’re not just someone we have to deal with, they’re humans. They’re our friends, they’re our neighbors, they’re our community and we care about them.”

While registration for Newtown Ambulance’s Fall 2024 EMT class has closed, the next session of EMT classes will start in January next year, with registration opening in November.

For more information on Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, visit newtown-ambulance.org.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.

Katie Jorgenson and Doug Fuchs were recently welcomed as two of the newest EMTs at Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps. They both took Newtown Ambulance’s EMT class earlier this year, and are now excited to be a part of the organization to support their community. —Bee Photo, Visca