After I got out of the way and returned home I thought I saw a second ambulance come which must have been called in from mutual aid. There were several adults and small children so it isn’t surprising they couldn’t transport them all. I hope everyone was o.k. and my prayers are with them.

I just wanted to share how proud I am of the Rescue and Fire volunteers and how great they worked together. I know they do this hundreds of times a year…I don’t… and I don’t think many residents get to see everything unfold as i did.. Our Volunteers are impressive in action… Thank You Volunteers!  Keep Up the Great Work!!

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

UPDATE 03/29/10 – I was able to get the second part of the meeting that included the presentation it is available here

It would probably be best to right click and “save as” to save locally to view.

Meeting Highlights:

• General Administration Budgets are STILL NOT AVAILABLE, well they are but there not..you get the picture.
• The Roads budget is being revisited and may be seeing some changes
• Rescue budget is about the same as last year even though their call volume is up significantly.
• The Ambulance is in dire need of Air Bags that are used to raise and lower the box. The maintenance will take the Ambulance offline for up to two weeks, since the whole box must be removed to change the units out. During this time the town will be reliant on mutual aid coverage from away.
• Rescue is regularly finding difficulty in dealing with multiple calls. Volunteers arrive on scene and begin treatment, but the Ambulance is already on another call and the responders have to wait for an Ambulance from another town to respond. Chief Cole explained seconds count in an emergency. They detailed several cases during the presentation.
• Rescue is seeing increased calls for mutual aid to help other towns.
• Rescue explained the need for an additional Ambulance. Call volume, service to residents, mutual aid are all a part of it. The additional ambulance would pay it’s own expenses through revenue generated, it further would provide a back stop for maintenance of the current ambulance. There is a large enough volunteer base to support the second unit.
• Although first and foremost Rescue is concerned with saving lives and emergency response it does provide revenues. the revenues not only cover it’s own operating expense but saves the town money. The town is able to save a significant amount of money by utilizing the Rescue’s revenue. By doing this the Town doesn’t have to borrow money to pay bills while waiting for tax proceeds to come in.
• The last portion of the meeting regarding the New Ambulance was missed on the video.
• Of course there was more….

The Lebanon online video archive is available Here.

UPDATE 3/29/10 – Added second half of video

Watch 03-17-10 Lebanon Maine Budget Committee in News |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

The first accident was reported around 8:10am when a Mercury Marquis traveling westbound on Carl Broggi Highway near Center Road lost control on the icy road and went well off the road. No one was injured in the accident. The driver was a 43 year old female from East Lebanon and her 13 year old daughter. Both occupants were wearing their seatbelts.

The second accident was reported around 3pm and occurred at the intersection of Carl Broggi Highway and Mills Road. An Oldsmobile Ninety Eight was traveling west on Carl Broggi Highway and went to slow to make the turn onto Mills Road but due to the icy roads, the vehicle continued off the road and over a snow bank and took out a stop sign before striking small trees. There was significant front end damage to the vehicle. The two occupants, a 18 year old female driver from Lebanon and her 16 year old female passenger, were evaluated for minor injuries by Lebanon Rescue personnel at the scene.

The third accident was reported at 6:49pm on Carl Broggi Highway near Center Road. A gold Dodge Intrepid traveling west bound on Carl Broggi Highway lost control on the icy roads and went off the road. The driver, a 32 year old male from Lebanon, was not injured in the accident.

The York County Sheriff’s Department are investigating the three accidents.

“All of the accidents and vehicles off the road were due to the slippery roads from the snow and freezing rain that we received all day Tuesday. Fortunately everyone was wearing their seatbelts and there were no serious injuries. As we were responding to these accidents and separate medical emergencies, we came across three vehicles off the road and were able to assist them back onto the road.” Assistant Chief Jason Cole added. “The volunteers have been out non-stop since 8am this morning on medical calls and accidents.”

If you know of anyone who could assistance, I would love to get these toys out to homes that need them. I mostly have toys for kids aged 2-8, but do have some for older kids and 1 year old range.

The family does not have to worry about people knowing they received toys. We can arrange for drop off or pick-up and they will be in bags from Santa for parents to view and wrap. The only one knowing they got toys will be me.

If you know of anyone or could send this email to any Lebanon Resident to get the word out, I would appreciate it.

They can contact me via email,  chiefcole@lebanonrescue.com  or cell phone (207) 608-5614. Please get a hold of me as soon as possible so I can get all these toys into the community!

I would like to thank everyone who helped with donations this year. We had a lot of people anonymously send cash, we got a lot of great toys from residents Chris and Lisa Gilpatrick, a very generous donation from the Lang Family of South Lebanon and on Sunday got a large donation of great toys from Trains Quick Stop. Its so nice to see the community come together to help each other out.
Again, no one should feel embarassed to ask for help, I want to get these toys out to the kids for Christmas. No one will know and its our gift from the great community we live in!

Happy Holidays from the Volunteers With Lebanon Rescue

Samantha Cole
Chief, Lebanon Rescue Department

The 2009 Volunteer of the Year Award was given to Captain Stu Morrison. Captain Morrison has been an active member of the Lebanon Rescue Department for about 7 years, but has about ten years experience, previously serving in Buxton, Maine.

“We had a lot of good volunteers we considered this year for the award, but Captain Morrison stood out beyond them all. He has just completed a very extensive advanced life support-intermediate program which took 2-3 nights each week, he is always around the station fixing things and improving the station and is one of most active responders. This is in addition to having a full time job and a family. Captain Morrison is always willing to help out and a tremendous asset to our community. It was a privilege to present the award with his family present.” Chief Samantha J. Cole advised.

Also presented with a special award was EMT and Chaplain Ron German, who is a pastor of the North Lebanon Baptist Church. Ron has been a member since 1987 and has served in several officer positions throughout his tenure. “We always can count on Ron during tough calls to be there for the volunteers who sometimes take the calls real hard. It’s a small town, so everyone knows everyone and when we go to a traumatic call, Pastor German is there for us. He has been really busy over the past year and not only helps us, but has responded to neighboring towns as well to help families who experienced traumatic loss. Twenty-two years of very dedicated service is tremendous and we are so proud to have him on our team.” Chief Cole added.

Assistant Chief Jason A. Cole was presented with an award for 21 years of service to the community. Assistant Chief Cole started out as a junior firefighter at the age of 12 and worked his way up through the fire department to the rank of Captain. Jason then was promoted to Assistant Rescue Chief in 1999 and has served in that position for 10 years. Jason handles our public information programs and has created a new website and Facebook site, as well as doing frequent press releases on incidents in town.

A special award was noted for EMT Christopher Hart, who has been on military leave for about two years and has served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is scheduled to come home in March 2010 and will receive the award at that time. EMT Hart has been a member of the department for about 6 years.

All of the volunteers received special certificates thanking them for their service in 2009. Currently, the department has 47 active members.

In addition to the awards, several area businesses help make the event happen. Thanks to Welchs Hardware and Lumber, Seacoast Trail Riders, Potters Place Campground, Just Chevy Trucks, Go Deep Mud,  Batchelder Tractor Sales, Skydive New England, Chandlers Septic Service, Prospect Hill Woodworking and Winery, Salmon Falls Campground, Above the Pines Restaurant, Gregory C. Thompson and Sons Electrical Contractors, School House Ice Cream, Gils Diner, Triple J Feed Store, Double G Ranch Horse Supply and Tack Shop, Somersworth Tax Service, Little Friends  Childcare and Back to Basics.

Gift certificates were also handed out to the responders. Special thanks to Bonanza Restaurant of Sanford, Subway Restaurants of Rochester and Chipman’s English Fish and Chips of Rochester who donated gift certificates for every responder to their restaurants. Also donating gift certificates were Central Furniture of Sanford, Sanford Main Street Car Wash, Sanford Mainers, Portland Sea Dogs, Uncle Henry’s, Flat Rock Bridge Family Resort, TD Bank of Sanford, Key Bank of Springvale, Slims Mexican Restaurant of Rochester, Fat Tony’s of Rochester, Third Alarm Diner of Sanford, LJ’s Pizzeria of Sanford, Mel’s Raspberry Patch of Sanford, AMTRAK Downeaster, Marc Motors of Sanford, Trains Quick Stop of Lebanon and Moes Italian Shops of Sanford.

In total, about $2,000 worth of gift certificates were donated to the volunteers and their family thanks to the generosity of the area businesses.
“We cannot thank the area businesses that realize how crucial volunteers are to the community and what great work these men and women do.” Chief Samantha Cole added.
Making a special appearance was Santa Claus, who arrived via an ambulance to greet the children who attended the party. Santa had gifts for each child thanks to the rescue corporation. Children were able to sit on Santa’s lap and tell them what they wanted for Christmas.

The highlight of the party was when a surprise guest showed up. The 2 year old near drowning victim “Joey” and his mom showed up to thank the rescue volunteers for their work. The crew that worked on the ambulance spent time with Joey and it was great to see that he is home and made a full recovery. The rescue will be hosting a special ceremony where plaques are awarded to the members who were instrumental in the positive outcome, including the State Trooper who arrived on scene and started CPR. Joey has been labeled the “Christmas Miracle” around town and it was great to see him doing so well!
“The nice thing about these celebrations is that we get to take a minute out of our busy schedules and just get together to share great times together. Because we do see each other often because of the amount of calls we have, the rescue is like a second family to all of us. This is a small token of appreciation for the volunteers who have donated about 13,000 manpower hours this year to the community. I am so fortunate to lead such a talented and dedicated group of people.” Chief Cole added.

Chief Samantha J. Cole
Lebanon Rescue Department
Rescue Chief’s Office
323 Depot Road
Lebanon, Maine 04027

(207) 608-5614 Cell Phone
(207) 339-9488 Central Station
Emergency Dial 9-1-1
www.lebanonrescue.com

The Lebanon Rescue Department sponsored a regional Ambulance Vehicle Operators Course (AVOC) class during the weekend of November 21^st, 2009.  The training class was held at the Lebanon Rescue Station and across the street at Profile Stateline Auto Center on Carl Broggi Highway in South Lebanon.Students from several communities, including Lebanon, Alfred, Old Orchard, Scarborough, Shapleigh and Newfield attended the class.

Any operator of an ambulance in the State of Maine is required by State Law to attend the training. This training was taught by primary instructor Glen Willette and several assistant instructors.

Students spent the morning session at the station going over safe ambulance operations, motor vehicle laws, patient and responder safety in the ambulance and proper maintenance and inspection techniques. The class spends a lot of time on the importance of ambulance maintenance and checking the ambulance out. The class also spends a lot of time talking about motor vehicle laws and that the ambulance drivers still need to follow all the driving laws and drive with due regard. The students learn about how ambulances get in accidents, and statistics like 65% of all ambulance accidents result in severe damage and serious injuries or fatalities. In total, there are 189 slides of information that the students are taught during the classroom portion.

In the afternoon, students had practical sessions using an ambulance from Lebanon and Shapleigh. Students had different driving scenarios, driving forward and backwards between traffic cones, backing into different designated areas and more.

“The important thing that the instructors teach is that the driver of the ambulances is responsible for multiples lives, the patients and the medics working on the patient.  Back several years ago, we used to transport a majority of the patients to the hospital with lights and sirens. After reviewing safety data and reviewing national data on ambulance accidents, we changed our policy and now most transports to the hospital are no lights and no sirens. For the past twelve months, the ambulance responded to the hospital 92%  of the time with no lights or sirens, 6% with lights and sirens, 1% started with lights, downgraded to no lights and 1% started with no lights and upgraded to lights and siren. That is a huge change from what has been done in the past nationwide.”  Chief Samantha Cole added.

After passing the state certification class, members return to their own departments to continue training.

“Our department has a policy that you must be 21 years old to operate the town’s apparatus. After obtaining the AVOC Certification, the new driver is partnered with a senior driver operator and they do several hours of driving. They then go through a department certification with the lieutenants and captains to ensure they know not only know how to drive the apparatus, but they know where the equipment is on the ambulance and how to get to multiple hospitals. Until the driver is comfortable and the officers are comfortable, they cannot drive with a patient on board.” Assistant Rescue Chief Jason Cole added.

“We make sure that the drivers know they are more than just ambulance drivers. They are responsible for everyone on board. Driving an ambulance is very stressful at times, you may have 3 or 4 EMT’s in the back working on a patient who is in cardiac arrest, but you need to stay calm and use your training to get to the hospital safely. In the seven years that I have served as the chief of the department, I think I have received maybe 3-4 calls about concerns about how the operation of the ambulance was handled. When you respond to 600-700 calls a year, we take each complaint very seriously and investigate them, but that’s a pretty good sign that the drivers are doing an excellent job.” Chief Samantha Cole added.

The Lebanon Rescue Department would like to remind motorists that when they see an emergency vehicle coming up behind them or approaching them, they must pull to the right and stop. When approached (from the front or rear) by an emergency vehicle whose light and siren are activated the driver of every other vehicle must yield the right of way. In yielding the right of way, you must drive immediately to the right hand edge or curb of the roadway, parallel to the roadway, and clear of any intersection. You must stop and remain stopped until the emergency vehicle or vehicles have passed. Always look to make sure that there was only one emergency vehicle, as often times multiple emergency vehicles are responding to the same incident.

Lebanon Rescue would like to thank Instructor Glen Willette, Assistant Chief Jason Cole, EMT Rob Karwanski, Rob Connor, Shapleigh Rescue Department and Profile Stateline Superstore for an excellent training site.

The Lebanon Rescue Department currently has 44 active members, 35 of which are certified to drive the ambulance.

Several pictures of the training are available at the Lebanon Rescue website, www.lebanonrescue.com by clicking on the facebook icon.

Vehicle Maintenance Issues:
The new EMS first response vehicle graphics were completed & the vehicle placed into service!
On Friday, the ambulance had its annual DMV inspection and has a new sticker.
Station Maintenance Issues:
Thank you to Captain Morrison, Captain Therrien and Lieutenant Therrien who spent several
hours at the station working on the water issue. The pipes have been replaced and we have
water again!
Thanks to Captain Therrien for fixing the front door handle at the station.
Thanks to Assistant Chief Cole who spent several hours at the station Friday night cleaning up
to ready the station for the training. Also thanks to Captain Therrien who cleaned up Friday
during the day.

Since going live last week, about 250 people have already joined the group to follow events. We will be working to get the word out to residents and encourage people to visit the site.

We just added pictures from the garage fire that happened this morning. The fire department did a great job knocking down the fire and saving the house which was nearby. When roads are closed or traffic restricted, we are able to post traffic advisories to try to help people from being turned around at the scene. Last week we also were notified of a planned power outage and was able to spread the word.

This is just another tool we are using to help keep residents informed.

To join the facebook site,  visit the Lebanon Rescue Department homepage at www.lebanonrescue.com and click on the link on the homepage.

The following is a breakdown of calls: 3 cardiac
emergencies, 3 mutual aid to neighboring communities, 2 Diabetic Emergencies, 1 Patient
Fallen with Injury, 2 Public Assists and 1 Motor Vehicle Accident with Injury.
The rescue also sent the 6 wheeler and EMS2 to the annual Toy Run for the Southern Maine

ATV Club event which was a very successful event.
5 patients were transported to the hospital, 4 to Frisbie Hospital and 1 to Wentworth Douglas.
Upcoming Events/Meetings/Trainings:
Monday, November 16th : Greenwood Emergency Vehicles/E-One/Horton will be at the station
to demo a new ambulance. The ambulance will be on display from 5:30-7:00pm. This new
ambulance has the EMT protection system in the back that we are looking at. It is not the same
chassis we are looking at, but it will show you what we are looking at for the patient/EMT
Compartment.
Saturday November 21st: Lebanon Rescue is hosting an Ambulance Vehicle Operators
Course at the station starting at 8am. Any member who drives the ambulance is required under
Maine State Law to have this training. Several area towns are also attending.
Saturday November 21st: A new EMT class will start at Frisbie Hospital. The class runs on
Saturdays from 8a-4p and may include an occasional Sunday if there are snow days. The class
runs through February 20th. Due to the amount of people currently in training, we are not sure
how many people we will be able to send to this and pay for up-front. Please let me know if you
are interested.
Saturday November 21st and Sunday November 22nd – Managing a Patient in a Wilderness,
Remote or Disaster Setting at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Saturday, December 5th – There is an EMT-Basic refresher class being held in South Berwick.
The class is Saturday 12/5, Sunday 12/13 and Saturday 12/19. Anyone needing a refresher,
please let me know if you can attend this.
Saturday, December 5th – There is an ALS refresher class being held in South Berwick. The
class is Saturday 6 weeks on some Saturdays and some. Anyone needing a refresher, please
let me know if you can attend this.
Thursday, December 17th – There will be a new ambulance on display at the station from
5:30pm-7:00pm.
Saturday December 19th : A new EMT class will start in Shapleigh. The class runs on
Saturdays from 8a-5p and Sundays from 8a-5p. The class runs through May 22nd. Due to the
amount of people currently in training, we are not sure how many people we will be able to send
to this and pay for up-front. Please let me know if you are interested. Class costs are about
$600.00.
Communications This Week:
This was a hard week for our friends at Acton Rescue and Acton Fire who lost a great
member when Harvey Simonds passed away unexpectedly on Saturday. Thank you to
the members who helped cover Acton on Tuesday for the wake and the funeral on
Wednesday. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Sandy, their family and the family
at Acton Rescue and Fire. The chiefs of the department sent very nice thank you’s to the
members – it is nice to be able to help out when we can.
Past Weeks Events:
Sunday November 8th – The rescue stood by during the Southern Maine ATV run. Each year,
they do a toy run to help departments that collect toys for local families for the holidays. We got
a lot of great toys to help with our program to help children in town that have lost loved ones
over the past few years. Thank you to Sam Roper and Jason for assisting with the detail.
Tuesday, November 10th – Acton Rescue and Fire member Harvey Simonds had passed away
unexpectedly on Saturday. We provided coverage during the wake on Tuesday afternoon and
Tuesday evening. It was our honor to cover them while their family could gather to say goodbye.
Wednesday, November 11th – Acton Rescue and Fire member Harvey Simonds had passed
away unexpectedly on Saturday. We provided coverage during the funeral on Wednesday
afternoon. Again, it was our honor to cover them while their family could gather to say goodbye
and celebrate his life of service and dedication to their community.
Wednesday, November 11th – The members of American Legion Post 214 held their annual
Veterans Day celebration on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, at the Hanson School in
Lebanon at 6 p.m. There was a great turnout from the public. The Legion has also asked us to
stand by at their next event also, which is in early December.
Thursday, November 12th – Acton and Shapleigh’s ambulances were both out of service for
the morning. A crew staffed our ambulance to help cover their towns as well as Lebanon until
afternoon when their ambulances came back in service.
Patient Correspondence
We received three great patient surveys this week – excellent work!!
One patient stated he was very appreciative of the care he received and sent a donation to
thank the responders for all they do!
Another patient survey thanked us for taking care of the patient and her husband several times
over the past year and they really appreciate the hard work we all do.
We also received a few great letters and thank you cards and emails.
Vehicle Maintenance Issues:
The door decals came in for EMS 1 – the EMS truck will be out of service for the first part of the
week while they finish all the decals.
Station Maintenance Issues:
Thank you to Captain Morrison and Captain Therrien who finished the painting at the station this

week.
Thank you to Captain Morrison, Captain Therrien and Lieutenant Therrien who spent several
hours at the station working on the water issue.

Have a safe week!!
~ End of Weekly Rescue Chief’s Report ~