SACKETS HARBOR, New York (WWNY) – “We have local from Sackets, then we have some from California, Florida, Pennsylvania,” said EMT Sophia DeVito.
And the list goes on. The Sackets Harbor Ambulance crew has been getting showered with phone calls and donations from all corners of America. The squad was featured on CBS’s Evening News a little more than a week ago. Why the national interest in an ambulance squad from Northern New York?
“I’m 17,″ said Reese Mono, an EMT student.
“I am 20 years old,” said EMS Captain Grayden Brunet.
“16,” replied EMT student Cooper Antonson.
“I’m 22,″ said EMT Alan Wilson.
“I’m 16,″ said EMT student Gannon Brunet.
“I’m 20,″ replied EMT Dalton Hardison.
“I’m 17 years old,” said EMT Sophia DeVito.
And they all have other responsibilities.
When asked if they also juggle high school, college, or work, everyone raised their hand.
A lot of people their age are hanging out with friends or playing sports when they’re not in the classroom. But these qualified and dedicated volunteers are saving people’s lives in their free time.
“We’re here all the time. We have no lives. We go from school to this station consistently,” said DeVito.
“It’s definitely hard coming back from the calls and being like, you know, ‘Oh I just did this.’ Now I have to go home and do an algebra test,” said Gannon Brunet.
The ambulance squad doesn’t receive any tax money to fund the department. They run completely on donations. Their goal is $20,000 per year. And the media exposure has helped them tremendously.
“Our GoFundMe page is, right now, I think about $5,000 on top of our letter drive, which is what the original coverage was for, and I think we received about $25,000 off of that,” said Grayden Brunet.
Perhaps the only thing more valuable to the ambulance squad than money, is more volunteer help. The department has 10 people total.
“We all have busy lives, many of us work full time, others are going to be going to college pretty soon, so we’re going to be right back to square one with not having very many people to respond,” said Grayden Brunet.
Anyone interested in joining the ambulance squad is encouraged to reach out to them either by phone at (315) 646-2770 or on social media for more information.
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