2013 Fund Drive – Underway

    As Sand Lake Ambulance is now doing its annual fund drive, we would like to take this opportunity to answer some questions people may have about our organization. We have also created a link so you can donate online today!

 

The Town of Sand Lake contracts with Sand Lake Ambulance to  provide emergency medical services (EMS) to the Town at both the paramedic (advanced life support – ALS) and EMT (basic life support –  BLS) level. In addition to providing EMS services, we also cover sporting events at the high school; assist with community events such as Summerfest; do blood pressure clinics; teach CPR classes to the public and APHS students; hold food,  clothing and blood drives; provide free Life-Alert units to senior members of  the community; and provide standby assistance to all 3 fire departments when  requested – all of this done without any compensation. We strongly believe in  being partners in our community.

Sand Lake Ambulance is not  part of the town, nor are we part of any of the local fire departments. We are  our own agency, registered as a 501(c) non profit. We are the only ambulance squad  within the area covered by 3 separate fire departments – covering the areas of  Sand Lake, West Sand Lake, Averill Park and Taborton.

We are not fully funded by the Town. Our primary source of funding is patient billing, which makes up 50% of our budget. In fact, using 2011 budget figures, the town subsidy is  only  45% of our annual budget. The donations from generous town residents to our annual fund drive event  make up another 5% of our budget.

All money is used for operating costs.  We are extremely frugal with our resources, believing in cost containment and only spending money when  necessary. We have always provided financial  documentation to the town along with a copy of our Annual Financial review, and recently earned the GuideStar Exchange Seal, demonstrating our commitment to financial transparency.

Every year our dedicated volunteers commit thousands of hours of their time to provide the best pre-hospital care possible. None  of our administrative staff is paid to perform their administrative duties,  other than having a lawyer paid for per diem work and a CPA do an Annual  Financial Review and handle our tax documents. In addition to providing EMS services and  handling all administrative tasks, our volunteers also perform minor vehicle repair and most building maintenance. Our building is cleaned by our wonderful paid staff and volunteers.

Now that I mention paid staff – please let me clarify. While we rely on volunteer staffing as much as possible, Sand Lake  Ambulance does have a paid staff which consists of a paid paramedic on duty 24/7 and a paid EMT during the day. This is necessary because most volunteers work during the day and are not certified at an advanced level of care. Our paid employees work per diem and receive no benefits (no vacation, no sick time and no health benefits). We are happy to announce that we now have volunteer drivers 7 days a week.

Interested in joining? Download an  application on our website (yes, a volunteer even maintains our website for us)  and bring it our monthly membership meeting on the first Wednesday of every  month at 7 PM. We are continually  looking for new volunteer drivers and EMTs  (free training provided for both). It only requires a commitment of one night  shift a week from 6 PM – 6 AM,  or one day shift from 6 AM – 6 PM. Don’t want to  ride on the ambulance,  but still want to help? We can always use help with  cleaning,  administrative tasks, etc.