On Wednesday June, 30th ASM will t a Blood Drive at our Headquarters from 9:30-2:30. Due to the Pandemic the Red Cross is in desperate need of donations. Please click on the link below and book your appointment. Today.
FOAMfrat is excited to add Ambulance Service of Manchester & Aetna Ambulance Service to our team of corporate partners. Sam and I are extremely impressed with the drive for clinical excellence seen in our interactions with both of these programs. Our team looks forward to working with you this year!
Welcome to the team ASM & Aetna!
ECHN Life Saving Award goes to South Windsor Police, Public Safety Dispatcher Rachel Burnham, Sgt. Ronald Littell, Officer Heather LaRock, and Officer Edmund Klein who helped delivered a breech birth while Rodney Bailey EMT-P and Jeff Rasmussen EMT-P from ASM provided post birth care. Congratulations on a job well done!
Please see below or click here for the full article by Hartford Courant Report Jesse Leavenworth.
Sean Norton, an Ambulance Service of Manchester operations supervisor, talks to visitors during ASM’s 60th anniversary celebration Tuesday. (Jesse Leavenworth/The Hartford Courant)
From a single “hearse-style” wagon and a crew of three in 1959, Ambulance Service of Manchester has grown to 190 employees and 30 ambulances serving the area from East Hartford to Stafford Springs.
On Tuesday, police officers and firefighters who work with the mobile medical crews joined other visitors at ASM’s cavernous headquarters on New State Road to celebrate the company’s 60th anniversary.
Paramedics and emergency medical technicians stood by to describe ambulance and equipment displays. ASM has updated its fleet with new Mercedes vans, replacing box-style ambulances. Four of the new vehicles are longer and sturdier, equipped to lift and transport patients who weigh up to 750 pounds. ASM also recently acquired two “stair chairs,” which allow crews to more easily carry patients up and down stairs. Along with heavier patients, ASM crews also have been dealing with an increase in drug overdoses and mentally ill patients, officials said.
Paramedic Chris Myska demonstrates a medication injection in ASM’s training room. (Jesse Leavenworth/The Hartford Courant)
ASM and Aetna Ambulance Service are sister companies headed by president and CEO Kim Aroh. Asked about the companies’ biggest challenges today, Aroh cited operating costs, such as the recent $300,000 expense to equip all ambulances with digital radios. The companies strive for modest growth each year, she said, but reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid have been flat for a decade.
Besides maintaining equipment and keeping up with changes in life-saving technology, another priority, Aroh said, is to encourage workers’ participation in fun events such as a polar plunge fundraiser _ which benefits the community and the employees. Ambulance crews, she noted, regularly have to handle traumatic scenes.
“They see so many tough things,” Aroh said.
Visitors and ASM employees at the celebration inside the company’s headquarters on New State Road. (Jesse Leavenworth/The Hartford Courant)
ASM started as Manchester Ambulance with three men _ J. Stewart Johnston, Thomas Carpenter and Roger Talbot Sr. _ who were based at a local auto dealership, according to its website _ www.ambulanceservicemanchester.com. The outfit moved to a three-bay garage at 134 Center St. in 1969 and its territory expanded to include East Hartford and Bolton.
Today, company spokesman Patrick Gleason said, ASM and Aetna serve about 1.2 million people.
Jesse Leavenworth can be reached at jleavenworth@courant.com
On Monday August 5th ASM’s EMT Jeffry Hornish and Paramedic Cody Lemire received Certificates of Recognition from the Bolton Volunteer Fire Department. Fire Chief, Bruce Dixon presented the certificates during the department’s monthly meeting. Lemire and Hornish were recognized for extraordinary personal actions in the line of duty which lead to the successful resuscitation and saving of a life. Congratulations and great job!
Ambulance Service of Manchester appeared in a Fox 61 news article and segment this past Monday evening alongside Manchester Fire Rescue EMS. Please see below to read the article and click here view the segment by Reporter Jim Altman.
MANCHESTER – You could say they are taking a page from the Nascar playbook because the Manchester Fire Department, joined by the Ambulance Service of Manchester takes a bit of a left turn when it comes to their C-P-R training.
Officially, Battalion Chief Josh Beaulieu, calls it the “Pit Crew Model for Cardiac Arrest Management”, but in life-saving circles it’s known simply as “Pit Crew CPR”. Much like how a racing crew feverishly tends to a car in the pits, so do Manchester Firefighters when it comes to responding to a cardiac arrest patient.
“Everybody has a role,” Beaulieu said. “Those roles might be compressions, it might be the person assigned to deal with the family, it might be the person managing the airway and breathing for the patient.”
Chief Beaulieu, a 21 year vet of the department, added that the town of Manchester has been supportive in providing resources when responding to cardiac arrest calls – as many as ten first responders can answer a life-saving call. He said, “a cardiac arrest requires a lot of work and a lot of hands to save someone’s life and that’s exactly what we are doing.”
MANCHESTER- In another joint effort with Manchester Fire-Rescue-EMS, Ambulance Service of Manchester has teamed up with the Board of Education to coordinate a free EMT class at the high school. ASM Education Supervisor, Melissa Osborne acts as the lead instructor with assistance from FD personnel. Following successful completion of the program, students involved will be eligible for certification at the EMT-Basic level. As part of the course syllabus, Melissa has organized a visit to Ambulance Service of Manchester’s Headquarters. There, the students will put their classroom knowledge to the test by utilizing ASM’s state of the art training facility. To read more about the MHS EMT Pilot Program, click here for a recent article by Journal Inquirer Reporter Emily Brindley.
In addition to the pilot, ASM partnered with Manchester High School’s Allied Health Program in 2017, providing 20+ students with “ride-along” shadowing opportunities. This program is on-going and provides all MHS students, even those not formally enrolled in an EMT program a chance to gain real world EMS experience.
HARTFORD COURANT
by Jesse Leavenworth
First responders and food pantry managers gathered at the MACC Community Kitchen Monday to kick off the Emergency of Hunger Food Drive.
Collections of turkeys, non-perishable food items, cash and gift cards are scheduled for the next two weekends at supermarkets in Manchester, Vernon and South Windsor.
The effort relies on the public’s generosity and volunteers from police, fire and emergency medical agencies, along with Rotary Club members and Stop & Shop and Geissler’s supermarkets. Collections benefit clients of soup kitchens and food pantries, including those run by Manchester Area Conference of Churches Charities and the Hockanum Valley Community Council.
Items needed, in particular, include canned vegetables, condiments, sugar, flour, coffee, tea and cocoa. Cash donations and gift cards also are welcome, food drive spokesman Patrick Gleason of Ambulance Service of Manchester said.
Last year, the drive netted 31,276 food items, 675 turkeys and cash and gift card donations totaling about $16,000. Each year, participating agencies challenge each other to collect the most donations. Losers this year have agreed to work at the winner’s food pantry or soup kitchen, Gleason said.
Collections are set for:
_ Friday and Saturday and Nov. 17 and 18 at Manchester Stop & Shop, 286 Broad St., from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day;
_ Stop & Shop in Vernon, 10 Pitkin Road, Nov. 17 and 18, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day;
_ Stop & Shop in the Rockville section of Vernon, 50 Windsorville Road, Nov. 17 and 18, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day;
_ Stop & Shop in South Windsor, 1739 Ellington Road, Nov. 17 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.;
_ And Geissler’s Supermarket, South Windsor, 965 Sullivan Ave., Nov. 17 and 18, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
MANCHESTER – The 9th Annual “Emergency of Hunger” Food Drive, composed of first responders, Rotary members, and others, was a great success! Their combined efforts continue to make a deep and widening impact on hunger in greater Hartford. This year volunteers from Manchester, Vernon, and South Windsor collected a staggering 31,000+ food items, 675+ turkeys, and $16,000 in gift card and monitory donations. Please click here to read Contact Reporter Jesse Leavenworth’s article in the Hartford Courant!
Emergency response agency and food pantry representatives gathered Tuesday at the Manchester Area Conference of Churches Food Pantry to kick off the Emergency of Hunger Food Drive
HARTFORD COURANT
by Jesse Leavenworth
First responders again are collecting food to stock regional soup kitchens and pantries.
The first collection for the Emergency of Hunger Food Drive is set for Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Manchester Stop & Shop, 286 Broad St. The effort is to continue the following weekend.
Now in its ninth year, the drive relies on volunteers from police, fire and emergency medical agencies, along with Rotary Club members and Stop & Shop and Geissler’s supermarkets. Collections benefit clients of soup kitchens and food pantries run by Manchester Area Conference of Churches Charities and the Hockanum Valley Community Council.
Last year, people donated about 34,000 food items, 650 turkeys and $16,000 in gift cards and cash.
“Every year we are shocked, amazed and proud of the generosity we see,” food drive spokesman Patrick Gleason of Ambulance Service of Manchester said Monday. “To date, our records show a combined total of 1,149,000 meals served.”
The food drive will take place on the following days at the locations provided below:
Over the course of the next several weeks, ASM will be featured in a television commercial recently produced by Eastern Connecticut Health Network. EMT’s Erind Muco and Chris Tevnan can be viewed within the advertisement along with a clip of a Mercedes Sprinter ambulance. The commercial represents a portion of the comprehensive campaign; demonstrating just a few of the technological advancements offered within ECHN’s community setting.
Please click the link below to check it out!
MANCHESTER – The 8th Annual “Emergency of Hunger” Food Drive, composed of first responders, Rotary members, and others, was a great success! Their combined efforts continue to make a deep and widening impact on hunger in greater Hartford. This year volunteers from Manchester, Vernon, South Windsor, Windsor, and Stop & Shop Supermarkets collected a staggering 34,000+ food items, 650+ turkeys, and almost $16,000 in gift card and monitory donations.
Thanks to the wonderful generosity of the community over the last eight years, we have been able to collect a total of 247,000+ food items, 7,000+ turkeys, and over $159,500 in gift card and monitory donations.