Ambulance Service to Begin Operations

by Audrey N. Seidman (with assistance by Stephen H. Goldstein)

“Five Quad Ambulance is a reality.” After a 2 ½ year struggle for recognition, the Five Quad Volunteer Ambulance Service (soon to be Inc.) hopes to begin operations March 1.

The FQAS was approved by University Council on Jan 12. As a “volunteer student’s ambulance service on the SUNYA campus operating through a not-for-profit corporation” under terms of an agreement with the Dean for Student Affairs, Neil C. Brown. The 24 hour service, in essence, is independent of the university but sanctioned by it.

Barry M. Bashkoff, one of the originators of the FQAS, is Chief. Joel Diringer is Assistant Chief of Operations and Marc Stern is Assistant Chief of Operations. The Officer of Training is Carl Schoder. 

The Combined Standard and Advanced First Aid course will be offered again starting Feb 13. Interested students should attend a general interest meeting Thursday, Feb 8 in LC 3 at 9 p.m. Cathy O’Brien, Secretary of the group, will teach the course, with assistance from Karen Klevanotsky.

Hood Favors Status Quo.

Dr. Janet Hood, Director of the Student Health Center, called the FQAS “an awkward and costly partial reduplication of better services already available in the area.” Happy with the status quo, she said, “Nobody ever consulted me, until they were very involved with it with tremendous emotional and actual involvement with the project.”

Declaring there has never been a problem with calling commercial ambulances, Dr. Hood said she favors “continuation of that policy.” She will utilize the services of the student volunteers for routine transportation, such as taking students from the infirmary downtown.

“I don’t see the need,” said Bashkoff, “for her (Dr. Hood) to call upon commercial units once we’re in service”. He considers a campus this size “a small community” which should have its own service. Each time a commercial ambulance transports a student it costs the students $40. The owner of the local Doctor’s Ambulance Service, Bill Opal, said his service is sometimes defaulted by students who keep the check they receive from this insurance company. 

Side note: In 2023, this $40 charge is equivalent to $276. The actual cost individuals are charged for basic ambulance services in 2023 range from $900 to several thousands of dollars. 

Let that sink in just how invaluable a free ambulance service is to the college community these days.

Project Expensive.

The cost of supplying the FQAS to provide free service to the campus will be high. Insurance is a major factor, costing $2,000 for an “Umbrella” coverage with liability up to $1 million in many areas. 

Bashkoff bought a 1964 Dodge van from the N.Y. Telephone Co. for the service for $35. After renovation it will be used mostly for special events. A local commercial ambulance service donated a 1963 Cadillac ambulance, in need of repairs, to the group.

Funds are being solicited from individuals and campus organizations. A raffle for a portable color T.V. will be used to raise money. It is being questioned whether or not S.A. Funds can be donated to the non-profit organization.

The students volunteer ambulances at Stony Brook and Oswego are funded by student tax. According to Bashkoff these campus services are “responsible for every aspect of first aid and emergency medical care.”

Supplies are being donated to the FQAS by what Bashkoff calls a “brotherhood” of ambulance volunteers. This includes stretchers, sirens and lights. A federally-supported ambulance emergency kit, worth $816, was given by the State Health Department to the service. Richard Downes, owner of Albany’s Ambulance Service, said, “I’ll see that they get started in the ambulance business,” and is ready to help with equipment.

Endorsing the need for a student volunteer ambulance on campus, Downes sees the service as “a good idea provided it’s run right and taken care of.”

Dr. Hood cited 29 calls to commercial ambulances between April 1971-1972. She said the average time of arrival was 10 minutes. Downes, however, said that Dr. Hood has often asked his drivers “What takes you so long?”

Opal, of Doctor’s Ambulance, sees the FQAS as business competition. He stressed the difference between an “Invalid Coach” for horizontal transport, as Dr. Hood intends to use the service, and an ambulance as an emergency vehicle. “I don’t feel that they have the experience,” he said. His attendants take the same MET (Medical Emergency Technician) course at SUNYA as the students, but see more day-to-day action. He emphasized lack of experience in the students’ case. He concluded by asking this reporter, “It’s my bread and butter. What would you do if your dad was going to lose business?”

Dr. Hood also sees the ‘round-the-clock service as a “waste of student volunteer time.” She fears they will be “bored to extinction.” As MET faculty advisor she said, “I’m not at all opposed to people learning first aid.” She commended the students involved in training who do a “tremendous job with great enthusiasm.”

Commercial ambulance owner Opal complained of “dry run” calls where there was no one there to meet him. He suggested that Dr. Hood check out calls with security first. It seems to be the basic procedure now. According to security records, security cars were sent on hospital and infirmary runs 74 times last month, 132 times in December, with a low for the year of 19 times last July.

Security Supports Effort. 

Members of the security force welcome the volunteers because they will handle the many routine calls and free security for other duties. “It can’t do anything but help,” said Karl Scharl, assistant director of security. James Williams, Chief of Security, supports the idea of a volunteer service, but wonders if the initial enthusiasm of the volunteers will last after current members graduate. Bashkoff believes that interest will survive.

Differences of Opinion.

As the main opposition for the creation of the FQAS as an emergency ambulance, Dr. Hood observed, “It’s like being opposed to mother’s milk.” She said, “Only the medical people can see the pitfalls.” In a statement on the “campus ambulance” Dr. Hood maintained there is “absolutely no demonstrable need” on campus for it.

The students involved maintain that there is a definite need for their services. Bashkoff related a recent incident when he went to attend to a student that was cut in a chemistry lab. Someone has called an ambulance believing it was an eye injury. Bashkoff took the student to the infirmary where they refused to cancel the ambulance which hadn’t yet arrived.

He also told of the childbirth in Eastman Tower a few years ago that was attended by Carl Ahrens, watchman, with ambulance experience, at the phone directions of an infirmary nurse. Many times injured or sick students had to walk to security cars for transportation.

Concerning the routine transportation of students constituting the “98C” of needs, Dr. Hood would prefer “one mature individual who could combine driving with maintenance chores at off times.” She concludes, however, that “The Student Health Service is flexible and cooperative and will, of course, proceed in this matter as requested by superior officers of the University.”

To gain extra respectability the FQAS is going to join the New York State First Aid and Volunteer Ambulance Association. They will take part in relay network in transporting students around the state. Bashkoff says the FQAS will be “comparable to any volunteer ambulance service in the state.”

Cooperation Essential.

It took Bashkoff 2 ½ years to bring the FQaS this far. In the fall of 1970 he and Bob Brody, a dorm director, combined their efforts in a series of student ambulance proposals which failed. In January 1972 Marc Stern began teaching First Aid on campus, graduating over 75 students. The MET course then graduated about 60 students.

The FQAS headquarters will be in Irving Hall, but Bashkoff hopes to be on Dutch Quad next semester, closer to the infirmary. According to Bashkoff, the procedure will remain for the student to call the infirmary in case of an emergency, and for the infirmary to call an ambulance, hopefully the volunteer one. Any action taken by the FQAS will be called into the infirmary so that the student’s health records can be pulled for information.

“The only way for this to benefit everyone,” said Bashkoff, “is for the Five Quad Ambulance to work in very close conjunction with the student health service and security.” This cooperation will  be essential. The real test for the FQAS will begin on March 1.

Source: 

[17.1.11] Albany Student Press, Volume 60, Number 5. (February 6,1973). "Ambulance Service to Begin Operations" by Audrey Seidman.

https://archives.albany.edu/concern/daos/d791sg587?locale=en