Retirement Bittersweet For Longtime Ambulance Corps Members

By Nancy K. Crevier

For 20 years they have answered the urgent beep of their pagers, leaping up to leave family and holiday celebrations, abandoning filled grocery carts at the checkout, and racing away from appointments and school events to tend to the needs of other community members. They have held patients’ hands and each other’s hands, laughed and cried together, and hopefully, say Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC) members Maria Sadlier, Nancy McLachlan, and Marilyn Schettino, eased residents through difficult times that required emergency response.

Now, after 20 years of serving on NVAC, the three women are saying good-bye to active duty, and retiring. The trio was honored at the holiday party held Saturday, December 6, and is wrapping up their final weeks of call.

“We will really miss it, though,” said Ms Sadlier, speaking for the others, as well. “We have met a lot of nice people over the years.”

The three volunteers began their careers with the ambulance garage in the fall of 1988, after taking the emergency medical technician (EMT) course. “That’s where we met,” explained Ms Schettino. They found that they worked well together, and over the two decades, the three often filled out a crew together, and for many years were the top responders for NVAC.

All of the women have served on the board of NVAC at some point, chaired various committees, taught cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid courses, and served as trainers for new members at the local ambulance garage.

It was her father’s heart attack that propelled Ms Sadlier into the world of emergency response. “He was living in New York, and couldn’t speak English. I felt so bad for him, thinking what he must have gone through, not being able to tell the responders what was wrong.” Fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English, Ms Sadlier wanted to use her language skills to help others in the situation her father had found himself in. “I took a CPR class and fell in love with it. Then I went on to become certified as an EMT-B and EMT-I. It was in my blood,” said Ms Sadlier. “Being able to speak another language has come in handy many, many times,” she added.

An EMT-B is trained to assess and provide basic care to ill and injured people; an EMT-I has received further training for midlevel care and can establish an IV for a patient.

Nancy McLachlan also started out her emergency responder career with a CPR class. She was not immediately sure that she was cut out to go on to pursue her EMT-B certification, however, despite the fact that since the ambulance corps started in Newtown in the 1940s, there has been a family member either on the board or in active duty. “But a former member encouraged me to try it. I went along on the ambulance a few times and it was fine. It has been a gratifying experience,” she said.

Marilyn Schettino was so impressed with the response of the Southbury emergency response team when her daughter was burned that she decided, after moving to Newtown, to pursue her EMT-B certification. “I thought, ‘I can do this!’ and filled out an application and started the course,” said Ms Schettino. “I grew up in Newtown and have lived here nearly all of my life. Being on the NVAC is a way to pay back and help my community. I’ve had a good time doing this,” she said.

Hometown Attachments

There is a down side to being a first responder in one’s hometown, though, said all three women.

“When you have kids of your own and you get a call that it is a young person involved in an accident, that’s the scary part of being in your own community,” Ms Sadlier said.

It can be both good and bad to know a person on a call, said Ms McLachlan. “You need to be able to sense when to step back. The worst thing is that you can know things that might make someone uncomfortable later,” she said. But even before privacy laws were enacted, said Ms McLachlan, the policy of NVAC was always one of the utmost privacy. “It was always stressed that absolutely nothing is discussed outside of the corps. Privacy has always been number one for us,” Ms McLachlan said.

“You have to be able to forget the face and give the best care you can when you work in your own town,” said Ms Schettino.

In 20 years of service, the women have honed the ability to protect a person’s privacy and yet provide compassionate care.

Compassion, Ms McLachlan said, is the common thread that is seen throughout the emergency profession.

“When I first became an EMT,” recalled Ms Sadlier, “I was working at another ambulance service and I would get down next to the patient in the ambulance and hold their hand if they needed it. One of the women on the crew there said, ‘You’ll do this now when it’s new, but you won’t be doing it in a few months.’ I wish I could see that woman now. I still get on my knees and offer comfort to the patients,” said Ms Sadlier.

The women have served with NVAC long enough to see many changes in staff and technology. The corps is always up to date on medical equipment, they said, and every two years, the garage gets a new ambulance, now equipped with GPS.

“Probably one of the biggest changes has been the introduction of computers,” Ms McLachlan said. “Computers really keep us updated. As a matter of fact, just since December of this year, all of the run forms are now done electronically when we return from a call,” she said.

There was also no paramedic 20 years ago to offer advanced life support, administer drugs, and intubate accident victims, said Ms Schettino. “Then we shared a paramedic with three towns for many years.” It has been just the last two years that Newtown has had its own dedicated medic on staff, 24/7.

“That has made a big difference in the quality of care that we can provide a patient,” said Ms McLachlan.

Increased safety devices like airbags and seatbelts also mean that the responders do not see as severe injuries in accidents today as when the three women first answered calls.

Long Service

It is a bit amazing to them that all three of them have remained in the corps for so long. “The burnout rate for EMTs is very high,” said Ms Sadlier. “On average, an EMT lasts about seven years. I think that we have lasted so long because we have become close friends. We talk to each other a lot, we know when to reach out, and we can respond to the emotions we see in each other’s faces.”

“You need to have someone to talk to who understands what you are going through,” Ms Schettino said. “We have seen each other through some bad situations.”

It is not unusual for an EMT to take a break of even several months to regenerate, Ms McLachlan said, as has each of them at some point in the past 20 years. “Bad situations are a ‘tattoo’ on your brain. You have to compartmentalize them and use the counselors that are available. But we come back. The reason we are still here is that we are here for each other. And there is a connection to serving in your own community,” she said.

They would be remiss in not mentioning that beyond their support for each other and the support of the community, the support of family has been essential to their being able to serve as emergency responders, said the three women.

“Family has to be supportive from day one,” said Ms Schettino. “If they aren’t, you’re not going to make it. It takes a lot of personal time away. We do continuing education, training, lots of mandated training and meetings, and staffing.”

Being an active member of NVAC means serving on committees, staffing in-house as well as being on-call for those who live locally, on-going education, and members must respond to at least 25 calls a year, added Ms McLachlan.

“The bottom line is the thank you that goes out to my husband, Chris; Nancy’s husband, Malcolm; Marilyn’s husband, Ray; and our children, who took the ‘beating’ all these years when we responded to calls,” Ms Sadlier said.

There are many advantages to being a longtime member of the corps, said Ms McLachlan, and a wealth of hands-on experience. Just knowing the roads in Newtown is a huge plus, as many times road signs are knocked down, or roads have similar names. Recognizing a house for a repeat call can shorten the response time, and working effectively with the Newtown Police Department and the fire companies in town is a skill that comes with years of practice.

“Nancy McLachlan was my trainer when I started 11 years ago,” said fellow NVAC member, Ken Lerman. “She and Marilyn [Schettino] often worked together, so the three of us often staffed,” he said. He confirmed the value of having served in a town for so many years, recollecting an experience he had as a trainee. “Driving the ambulance one night, Nancy McLachlan was up front with me, and Marilyn was in back. I made a wrong turn in the dark and got lost. Marilyn stuck her head up front, looked around, and knew right away where we were. It helps to have that experience,” said Mr Lerman. “People come and people go, and there will be new people joining us, I’m sure, but I will absolutely miss these members,” he said.

Still Willing To Serve

Ms Sadlier will be leaving Newtown for Florida in January, but Ms Schettino and Ms McLachlan will remain in the area. It is because they believe that they still have much to offer the corps that they are hoping NVAC will consider adding a lifetime membership classification, within the associate membership, that will allow them to still respond to calls, serve on the board, and assist in any needed capacity, while not serving as active members.

Presently, there is only an associate membership for those who have retired or are not on active duty. An associate member does not take part in patient care.

“A lifetime membership would offer continuation of years of experience, so we hope this will be considered,” said Ms McLachlan.

The other retirement perk they are all hoping for, is that they will be able to keep their call numbers. Ms Schettino is call number 720; Ms Sadlier is 722; and Ms McLachlan is 727. They are known to the dispatchers and fellow crew members as much by their numbers as by their names. “Our call numbers mean a lot to us, so it would be nice if they could ‘retire’ with us,” said Ms Sadlier.

“I have had the pleasure to work side-by-side with all three ladies. They are all great to work with and will be missed by Newtown Ambulance,” said NVAC Chief Meghan Posey. “Maria Sadlier has either led or been a key figure of our corps training committee for many years. Her passion and enthusiasm for training will be missed. She is always there, whether it is 2 am or 2 pm, to help the people of Newtown. Marilyn Schettino and Nancy McLachlan have always been eager to share their years of experience and knowledge to assist in training our new EMTs,” added Chief Posey.

Retirement will mean more time to spend with families and pursue hobbies. But there is no doubt that there will be a bit of separation anxiety as pagers go silent next month, said Ms Sadlier, Ms McLachlan, and Ms Schettino. After 20 years of dealing intimately with the residents of Newtown, life will be different, they all agreed.

“We will certainly miss it,” Ms McLachlan said.