Grant brings hope for a home back to volunteer ambulance corps

A legislative grant could be the long-awaited, final push the Malverne Volunteer Ambulance Corps needs to find a home.

Nassau County Legislator Francis Becker said he requested a $60,000 appropriation from the Community Revitalization Projects fund to help the corps put an end to its 35-year search for a headquarters in the village.

“This is important to the Village of Malverne, to try and find a home for the ambulance corps,” Becker recently told the Herald. “They do a wonderful job. They save taxpayers money by providing volunteer service, so this can only help the community of Malverne.”

It certainly will, said Mayor Patricia McDonald, adding that she hopes this will help wrap up the corps’ search. Throughout the years, the VAC has received several grants, she said, but they have yet to materialize.

According to John Hassett Sr., chairman of the corps’ Board of Directors, the CRP grant could “help to move the dream of a headquarters closer to reality,” Hassett said. “If there is a piece of empty property, $60,000 would make a significant dent in the cost of a building.”

The problem, however, is that there aren’t many undeveloped parcels of land in the village, and, according to Hassett, purchasing property with an existing structure would be cost-prohibitive.

The VAC considered building a headquarters on the half-acre of land the village acquired in the Grossmann’s Farm sale, but its hopes were dashed earlier this year when the county added a stipulation prohibiting the use of the small plot for police, ambulance and fire services.

With the continuing growth of the organization, which has provided emergency medical services to residents of Malverne and surrounding communities since 1968, comes a sense of urgency to find a headquarters. The corps currently operates out of its two ambulances, and emergency medical technicians take turns parking them at their homes when they are on duty. This limits the corps’ membership, since it must turn away volunteers who don’t live in Malverne. According to Hassett, last year alone the corps had to reject nine out-of-area volunteers.

The corps’ homelessness also causes delays in response time by creating more work for the volunteers. Those who are on duty, with an ambulance outside their home, must plug it into their electrical circuits to keep the equipment charged and the engine block heater running. They must also take some equipment, like the medication bag, indoors with them. When it snows, they must clean off the ambulance doors and windows.

Being without a headquarters is also, at times, a safety concern for volunteers. While a member on duty with an ambulance can respond to an emergency in the marked vehicle, other members use personal vehicles to get to the scene. At times, those responders are not recognized as such, which challenges their abilities to fulfill their duties.

A headquarters, President Joseph Karam said, would house the corps’ two ambulances and medical supplies. It would be a place for members to stay when they’re on duty, thereby enabling the corps to add out-of-area volunteers. The corps would be able to hold meetings and training dates regularly. Members would no longer have to transport equipment back and forther. Perhaps most important, having a central location from which to dispatch and to which to return, as well as a place to store all records and files, would help the corps operate more efficiently and provide the community with better service.

Calling Becker’s efforts to secure the grant “extraordinary,” Hassett and Karam said they were extremely grateful to receive it. And, they added, they hope it will inspire others to support their endeavor and help them obtain funds.

The corps’ administrators said they are hoping to locate property within the next few months and begin building a headquarters by the winter.

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