We are experiencing the “dog days of August” in July. Hopefully, you are staying cool and hydrated.

June was a busy month for the Helderberg Ambulance squad. There were 44 calls in June with 21 transports. 

On June 13, ten members took a Certified Emergency Vehicle Operations course at the Cole Hill Station. On July 18, another five members took the same class. Another class will be held in August for those who missed the first two classes. This class is mandated and must be taken every three years. Thank you, Chuck Feldmann, for teaching these classes.

On July 14, the squad held an American Red Cross Blood Drive. Thirty-seven donors from the community came and donated blood. Thank you for supporting the blood drive.

On July 16, Stephanie Carpenter led a class on treating burn victims. Thank you for a great class. 

On July 25, Bonnie Jean, a paramedic who works with Guilderland Emergency Medical Service and Albany County Sheriff’s Office presented a class titled ALS for BLS Providers. Nine emergency medical technicians from the squad took this class. Great job, Bonnie Jean.

On Aug. 3, Helderberg Ambulance members will train with the East Berne Fire Company with a water rescue drill at Warner Lake.

We would like to thank Hannay Hose Reel for allowing Helderberg Ambulance Squad to use the company’s parking lot on July 19 for an Ambulance Rodeo. The course was one mile long and had 75 cones set up.

We had to drive the course, demonstrating our braking and backing-up skills, and doing a three-point turn. We had to accomplish all this within minutes and we were allowed to hit no more than three cones.

Congratulations to the over 20 drivers and EMTs who successfully completed the course. 

We would also like to thank Wayne LaGrange for allowing us to sit in the shade of his apple tree. We would not have been able to complete this mandated drill without the cooperation of the Town of Berne Highway Department, Knox Highway Department, and Albany County Highway Department.

Thank you for letting us borrow the 75 cones that were needed. Thank you, George Gebe, Dave Harnett, and Neal Hogan for setting up the course.

Congratulations to Ray Schimmer for responding to over 100 calls this year.

Adrianna Fahd has successfully completed her EMT class. She passed the practical exam and is waiting for a date to take the written exam. Good luck, Adrianna.

Candace Wright is enrolled in the EMT class in August. Good luck, Candace.

We are always looking for new members. You can be a driver, an attendant, or an EMT. Training is paid for by the squad.

For the past six months, Sharon Humes has been keeping track of the volunteer hours that members complete each month. This past month, the squad logged in 1,350 volunteer hours. The squad has volunteered almost 7,000 hours since the beginning of the year. Great job, everyone. Thank you, Sharon, for all your volunteer hours keeping track of all the volunteer times.

We continue to conduct our monthly meetings on Zoom. If you are interested in helping us serve the community, stop by the ambulance station on Cole Hill Road on the first or second Thursday of each month at 7 p.m.