Glen Cove EMS Has Big Plans for 2010

The members of the Glen Cove Emergency Medical Service meet on the first Saturday and second Thursday of every month to keep one another up-to-date on the department's operations. 

Just recently, two topics were the foci of discussions-an addition of three new ambulances and the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday. It seems, however, that growth and maintenance are what the service will focus on in the upcoming months.

Matthew Venturino, the service's second assistant chief, said that last month the Glen Cove City Council approved the purchase of three vehicles, two 2010 Ford E450s to replace the two 1998 editions — also known as "The Twins"— that the service currently uses, and a 2010 Ford Van. With the remaining 2004 E450 that the service has, these new vehicles will bring the total count from three to four.

According to Venturino, this enlargement of the service's apparatus was influenced by a rising trend of emergency calls. Comparing 2007 to 2008, the number went from 2116 to 2188. And in 2009, it was 2291, the greatest amount on record for the department.

Without hard data, Venturino attributes this to the simplest logical conclusion- an increase in the population. It makes him eager for this year's publication of the decennial Census Report that, in 2000, listed the city's population at 26,662.  If it does confirm his first assumption, then it may, in addition to supplying a statistic to back his theory, bring more funding to the service from federal, state and/or local governments.

Alongside funding and equipment, the service's administration is seeking to raise membership, with Venturino heading recruitment. There are currently 40 active members, seven administrative officers and five correspondence officers.  Twenty-eight are Emergency Medical Technicians, five are advanced EMTs and seven are attendants. Of the seven officers, Chief Robert Gobbo leads the department along with his  two assistants, one captain and three lieutenants.

Members volunteers are trained at one of two schools, Nassau County EMS Academy or Nassau County Fire, Police, and Emergency Medical Service Academy. Both schools are financed by the state, and therefore, accrue almost no expenses for the city.

The service's overall expansion, representatives said, is coupled by continuous preparation, both targeted at updating operations to keep pace with the changes in the city. The department's bid for new ambulances to the city council has been in the works for three years now. They are expected to arrive in June or July, just when the summer season hits. 

And, service officials said, the timing is perfect because the summer is the busiest time of the year for the group, because the city has weekly concerts like the Jazz In The Square and big events like the annual July 4 celebration.

During these events, the service is available to the public in dual capacities- as stand-by services in case of an emergency and as a display of how tax money is being spent. In the future, with city developments like the commercial/residential RXR-Glen Isle Project in the works, Venturino said, the need to enhance the service's outfit will continue to spread.

For the time being, however, the service stays occupied with concerns that exist in the present. Before each of its monthly meetings, the entire department goes through an hour long training session, where the department reviews equipment and protocol to solidify knowledge in its newer members and reinforce it in the veterans.

As far as this week goes, members will gather at the service's headquarters — the Glen Cove Fire Department building on Glen Cove Avenue — on Saturday morning to clean "The Twins" for city's big parade on Sunday. It will be one of the last few opportunities for the community to see the vehicles before they are replaced.