The
Windsor Locks Lions have enjoyed serving and donating to the community 60
years. So many townspeople have benefited, either directly or indirectly, from
the Lions’ service. At the forefront of the Windsor Locks Club is, of course,
its ambulance service. The Club does much, much more. Dozens of other
worthwhile projects exist. Scores of other Lions volunteer for activities in
addition to the ambulance service. I shall expound.
Lions
throughout the world are dedicated people who are neighbors, friends, and local
businesspeople who have a common bond. That bound is to serve people in need.
Lions band together to accomplish, as a club, that which they cannot do as
individuals. Melvin Jones founded the Lions in Chicago in 1917. His goal was to
help others. The Lions began to provide services for the blind. In fact, in
1923 the late Helen Keller challenged the Lions to become “ Knights of the
Blind” in the crusade against preventable and curable blindness. It was a
challenge which was accepted. Although a major focus is toward the blind, clubs
serve all people everywhere. Residents donate or support fundraisers, and Lions
volunteer their time to carry the projects to fruition.
On a
local level, the Windsor Locks Lions Club uses your donations to provide the
ambulance service, the Dr. John Kennedy scholarship, nursing and other
scholarships, Senior Awards Night Dinner, Youth Day, support of the Little
League, Girls’ Softball, Senior League Baseball, and the Bickford Convalescent
Home and Special Education Children’s Christmas parties. Club support also
includes sponsorship of Boy Scout Pack and Troop 261, Boys’ State, 4-H
Camperships, Santa Visitations, World Service Day, sending high school students
abroad, building outside ramps for wheelchairs, and Youth Outreach, which
includes Drug Awareness. Additional funds are raised during our bingo nights
and through our annual Pancake Breakfast, Walkathon, Holiday Raffle, Craft
Fair, Halloween Dance, place mat sale, and Lions Day (Candy Day).
On
a state level, the Windsor Locks Lions Club contributes to the Gallery for
Vision Services and Low Vision Centers, CT Radio Information Service, CT Lions
Eye Research Foundation (CLERF), Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, and the Board of
Education and Services for the Blind Lions Workshop Fund (BESB). Your club
supports state eye exams and eyeglass provision, glaucoma screenings, eye bank
registrations, scholarships and scholarships for the blind, large print books
at libraries, and sales of articles made by the blind.
On
a national and international level, your Windsor Locks club supports Lions Club
International Foundation (LCIF) Sightfirst, United Nations Day, museums, the
Braille Association, video services, sight related projects and research, and
Hearing Conservation.
More
than 160 Windsor Locks Lions, 6,500 Connecticut Lions and over 1,400,000
million Lions worldwide make the preceding projects possible. You also have
helped make it possible- and continue to do so. Your donations and support
allow us to do our part. We would be nothing without you. Please send your tax
deductible donations to the Windsor Locks Lions Charities, Inc. Feel free to
earmark your support for the ambulance or to the project of your choice. A
heartfelt thanks goes out to you from all the Lions throughout the world.
Here’s to your health!
to the
intermediate level. In 1999, our service progressed to the advanced life
support (ALS) level. This is the paramedic level service. Ours is a paid
personnel and some volunteer corps membersl. We have CPR drivers, MRTs, EMT-Bs,
EMT-S, and EMT-Ps on staff. The corps responds to some 1,200 calls per year.
For the
first 50 years, this was a totally volunteer and free service. With the
American phenomenon of decreased volunteerism, we were forced to hire some paid
staff. Consequently, we need to charge in order to support that new paid staff.
However, townspeople’s donations still go toward ambulance operations- such as
supplies, maintenance, uniforms, training, insurance, and ambulance purchases.
The
ambulance organization is overseen by the Windsor Locks Lions Ambulance
Executive Board. It is a committee of dedicated Lions volunteers. The board’s
chair is Trish Julian. The day-to-day operations are supervised by paid
professional chief Stephen A. Molinari. Supervisors are in place for the
evenings and duty officers take charge of the weekends. Other corps volunteers
help out with various administrative offices. Honorary and auxiliary committee
members also take an active role in this corps. The corps answers emergency
calls 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Medical emergencies do not take
vacations or days off, and neither does this ambulance service. Located at 401
Spring Street, the WL Lions Ambulance Corps is minutes away from any location
in town.
We are
always looking for volunteers to join our family of dedicated and altruistic
corps members. We also sponsor CPR, MRT, and EMT classes on a regular basis.
One of the greatest honors is to help neighbors in need. The Windsor Locks
Lions Ambulance Corps provides an extraordinary opportunity to serve others. We
take pride in following the Lions motto “We Serve”. Here’s to your health!
The Star of Life
People have asked about the medical Star of
Life symbol that appears everywhere in EMS. I recently received a write-up
which addresses this very issue. It researches the origins of our medical
symbol. Additional research was conducted.
Star of Life
---belongs to each of YOU---
and to US all as a TEAM
Use our symbol WITH PRIDE!
Emergency Medical Services and
their technicians have a symbol- the blue “Star of Life.” (like pharmacists and
doctors have their mortar and pestle and the caduceus).
Designed by Leo R. Schwartz,
Chief of EMS Branch, NHTSA, the Star of Life was created after the American Red
Cross, in 1973, objected to the common use of an Omaha orange cross on a square
background of reflective white. The new design, the six-barred cross was
adapted from the Medical Identification Symbol of the American Medical
Association and was registered as a certification mark on February 1, 1977.
The snake and staff in the
center of the symbol portray the staff of Asclepius who, according to Greek
mythology, was the son of Apollo (god of light, truth and prophecy). According
to the myth, Asclepius learned the art of healing from the centaur, Cheron.
However, Zeus, king of gods, was fearful that because of Asclepius’ knowledge,
all men might be rendered immortal. Rather than have this occur, Zeus slew
Asclepius with a thunderbolt. Despite Zeus’ effort, Asclepius was worshiped as
a god anyway. People would sleep in his temples, because it was rumored that he
effected cures of prescribed remedies to the sick during their dreams.
Asclepius was usually shown in
a standing position, dressed in a cloak, holding a staff with a serpent coiled
around it. The staff has since come to be medicine’s only symbol. In the
caduceus, used by physicians and the Military Medical Corps, the staff is
winged and has two serpents intertwined.
Even though this does not hold
any medical relevance in origin, it represents the magic wand of the Greek
deity, Hermes, messenger of the gods.
In another allusion to the
caduceus, the Bible, in verse 21:9, makes reference to a serpent on a staff. “
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole and whenever
anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he
recovered.”
Use your symbol--- WITH PRIDE!
By: Arline Jatz,
Emergency Magazine, September 1982
LIFELINES
STROKES
As we know, the
brain needs a constant flow of fresh blood to supply it with oxygen. At times,
an interruption of blood flow to the brain occurs and lasts long enough to
cause permanent brain damage. The signs and symptoms that are manifested as a
result are known as a “cerebrovascular accident” (CVA) or stroke. A stroke is
not the cause, but the consequence of this blood flow interruption. A CVA may
be caused by a thrombosis (cerebral blood clot), aneurysm (weakened area of a
blood vessel), or embolism (clot elsewhere in the body).
Someone suffering
from a CVA may experience the following effects: paralysis of extremities,
varying degrees of diminished consciousness (dizziness, clumsiness), difficulty
with speech or vision, convulsions, high blood pressure, unequal pupils, or
sudden headache.
If you feel that
you, or a loved one, is experiencing a stroke, call for help. The town’s
emergency number is 911. Help will arrive in minutes.
You should then
try to relax. Remaining calm is essential. At this point, you need medical
attention. Paralyzed extremities will need to be protected and oxygen will be
needed. This is why you will see our Lions ambulance attendants reassuring
patients, protecting extremities, and administering oxygen. At times you will
see them placing patients on their affected side in order to prevent airway
problems caused by mucus or saliva. The throat could be paralyzed as well. This
is why one should never give a stroke patient anything to eat or to drink.
Lions paramedics will go a step beyond, administering IV and various
medications.
At the hospital,
doctors will be able to treat the condition and to administer any additional
medication. Stroke treatment has come a long way recently. Drug therapy at the
hospital is more helpful than it’s ever been, yet it needs to be implemented
early on into the stroke. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to get
paramedics to a patient, then the patient to the emergency department as
quickly as possible. Delaying phoning 911 will hurt the patient’s chances of
recovery or survival .
Remember, if you
feel you or a loved one is having a stroke, stop whatever you are doing, stay
calm, dial 911, and get quick transport to an emergency room. These steps will
help minimize damage and threat to your life. Here’s to your health!
People have asked us
why the Lions Ambulance needs an annual fund drive, now that it charges. As
most of you now know, the support that we raise from the fund drives goes to
our operational budget. Since 1944, we have looked to the generosity of the
townspeople to support us in this area. The reason that we have no choice now
but to charge, is to cover paid staff. The fewer volunteers we get, the more
staff we must hire and pay. It’s that simple. It’s a shame that so many EMTs and
MRTs live in town, and don't volunteer on their town’s ambulance. The corps is
always looking for people who will not sit back and do nothing, when their
neighbors need emergency medical help and transport to a hospital.
We always have been
and still are a non-profit organization. Contrary to what some believe, the
Lions Ambulance Corps is not overflowing with money. All points considered, we
are still one of the best ambulance deals around. Although we no longer offer
totally free ambulance service, we offer the Town of Windsor Locks and its
citizens much more than meets the eye. Since ours is a corps is non-profit,
only look to break even. Consequently, our fees are substantially lower than a
those of a commercial ambulance service.
Our ambulance organization
is comprised professional staff and Lions- your neighbors. We are not out for a
buck. We have a genuine concern for, and interest in, your health and well-being.
We are not strangers. Unlike commercial ambulances, we do not desire to profit
from you. However, we do need sufficient money to operate. We want to stay in
business in order to serve. We are a Windsor Locks tradition.
If the Lions
Ambulance service were to cease operations, the town would have to replace the
ambulance service, at it’s on expense. The choices would be to contract a
commercial ambulance service to come into town. Taxpayers would have to pay
some $50,000 to $70,000 out of its annual budget to pay for a service agreement
with a commercial ambulance service. The other option is for the town to run
its own ambulance service. This would necessitate monies for employing
personnel at $100,000 annually, for an annual operating budget of $30,000, for
and the purchase of two ambulances at almost $200,000. Neither option is better
than keeping the ambulance service with the Lions Club.
A commercial service
would then charge at least $100 more than we charge per call. Most commercial
services charge upwards of $600 per call. Then surcharges are tacked onto that.
Five years ago, the relative of a fellow Lion was charged more than $700 by a
private, commercial service to be transported from Suffield to Somers! And that
was for a simple transport, not an emergency call, using advanced life support
personnel or equipment. Many private ambulance services employ very brash and
very impersonal collection agencies when patients do not pay. We allow our
fellow residents to pay $5 per week, if that’s all they can afford. Who else
does that?
For most profit
commercial ambulance services, business is business. For the Windsor Locks
Lions Ambulance Corps, our business is to help our fellow townspeople. We have
been doing nothing else for more than five decades. Thanks for always
supporting us.
Please support the
fund drive. When our mailer comes to your house at the beginning of each March,
please reflect and give what your heart says you can. If you are from out of
town, you can simply mail us at P.O. Box 105, Windsor Locks, CT 06096. Thank
you.