Members of the Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad have undergone training to respond quickly to Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs). Here are some tips for protecting yourself and loved ones if you’re faced with a situation involving an active shooter:
It was February 18, 2015. A winter storm had draped ten inches of snow and ice on Virginia Beach, and drivers crept along the roadways with great caution.
Late that evening, a call came in that paramedic Brian Roland will never forget. The 911 Emergency Dispatcher described a pregnant female in cardiac arrest. Her spouse, a physician, had begun CPR. Roland later learned the woman’s pacemaker, which she had since childhood, had unexpectedly failed. Roland, a member of Kempsville Volunteer Rescue Squad at the time and now a career paramedic, and his team would need to save not one life, but two.
After 49 years of service to Virginia Beach EMS, starting as a volunteer with Ocean Park Rescue Squad in 1967, EMS Chief Bruce W. Edwards retired on March 1, 2016.
The Virginia Beach EMS Marine Rescue Team was recently recognized with a 2016 Healthcare Heroes Award from Inside Business for the incident in Sandbridge on Sept. 27, 2015 (featured on the cover of Rescue Lines – Spring 2016 edition).
The deadline to submit an application for a 2017 Virginia Beach Rescue Squad Foundation Grant is Monday, October 3. Click here to download the guidelines and application. 2017 scholarship information will be announced soon.
Pictured here is Mike Leary from Davis Corner Volunteer Rescue Squad with a LUCAS Chest Compression System, a purchase made using 2016 Foundation grant funds.