Dear Neighbor,
The Garrison Volunteer Ambulance Corps has been proud to serve our community by providing high quality emergency medical care to those in need at any hour of the day or night for over 48 years.
We have not reached out to our community to directly ask for your assistance since 2016 but we feel that we need to do so now.
Like everyone else, the last two years with Covid have been a real challenge for us. We put our patients first and have poured our resources into maintaining the highest standards of care as the number of calls that we answer steadily rise. As part of this, we have had to cover a number of large vehicle repairs in order to keep our ambulances rolling.
While we are extremely proud of the service and care that our EMTs have provided, and the risks and challenges that they have so willingly shouldered through it all, we have had to defer other organizational, facility, and equipment needs in order to do so.
With the exception of an emergency furnace replacement this past winter, we have been able to afford very little needed maintenance work on our headquarters building for some time now. As a result there is a long list of repairs both large and small that we need to make, the largest of which currently is to have our roof replaced.
The Philipstown Town Board has been supportive in working with us to help finance the pending replacement of our failing thirteen year old ambulance but our other ambulance is now over ten years old and we need to start planning for its eventual replacement as well.
Additionally, Putnam County is in the process of installing a new county-wide digital radio system. The changes will address long standing communications issues and help emergency response agencies immensely with our individual and joint operations. However; as appreciative as we are of the coming improvements, none of our current 15 to 20 year old analog radios will be able to operate on the new system and we need to start buying new compatible radios that will cost several thousand dollars each.
We deeply appreciate any donation that you are able to make to help support us and allow us to continue to assist those facing medical emergencies.
Thank you in advance
P. Smith Derek Tudor, Jr.
President Chief