CHARLOTTE HALL, Md. – Charlotte Hall Veterans Home now has an on-site Ambulance with EMS responders.
In 2021, Senator Jack Bailey secured supplemental funds to allow Charlotte Hall Veterans Home to purchase its ambulance. $200,000 was awarded to the Home, hoping it is enough to start an ambulance program to ensure veterans get improved service.
Senator Bailey heard the pleas of the community- CHVH, at its highest occupancy, had 412 residents. Given that 35% of these residents are 80 years old and older with multiple health issues, it is no surprise that service calls will be plenty.
Despite best efforts, the rescue squads in the area cannot respond in a reasonable amount of time as they also have the rest of the county to serve.
This seed money was enough to spark an idea from Dr. Rebecca Bridget, St. Mary’s county administrator.
Upon hearing of the funding, she called CHVH’s director, Michelle Cariaso, and together with MDVA Secretary George Owings and his team, they came to an agreement where the Home will provide the space for the EMS service in Charlotte Hall, and the county will provide the workforce and equipment.
On February 1, 2022, the memorandum was presented to the County Commissioners, who recognized how much this would benefit the veterans and the rest of the county.
Much appreciation goes to Steve Walker, Director of Emergency Services, David Weiskoph, County Attorney & Pete Pantzer, MDVA Director of Finance & Administration, who all went out of their way to see this through.
Thank you also to George W. Edelen, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Chief of St. Mary’s County
Awesome job to be able to provide dedicated service for our veterans.
Odd. This is nothing new. An Ambulance had always been stationed there for as all as I can remember.
There hasn’t been one “stationed” there in years. They had a contract with a local private transport company and have since lost the contract.
Furthermore the article title is misleading. It says CHVH has a new ambulance and crew but when you read the article it says it’s for the CHVH AND the residents of St. Mary’s County. So how can it provide a service “exclusively” for CHVH if it’s out running calls in the county? What’s gonna happen when a Veteran needs medical attention and the “CHVH” unit is down in Mechanicsville on a call and not at CHVH? Who’s accountable when the Veteran dies because the CHVH unit isn’t there?
Hi Mister W!
That unit is indeed located on the premises of the CHVH. It’s there in case of a call from that nursing facility, which on any given day, drops about 4 or 5 calls on the local EMS system. These usually range from constant calls about week old labs being bad, to slips and falls and everything else in between!
As the article properly calls out, the system is taxed to the hilt right now. People call 911 irresponsibly every single day. In fact, there are some people who call just because they want to get out of their home and into the hospital instead!
The solution is: there is no solution other than to increase the vigilance and try to predict a busy time for the Vets Home. That ‘local service’ that used to be there had the similar issue of having a dedicated ambulance that sat there, 24/7, only working the calls from the CHVH. However, the CHVH saw it in their hearts to kick that company out of the building and use their tiny room to make a coporate office instead, making the dedicated company withdraw the contract.
The question of who comes next? When Mechanicsville and that dedicated unit are on calls, the next two stations paged would be Hughesville and Dentsville. If neither of those answer, more dispatches are made (La Plata and Hollywood are up next, if I recall).
Plus, this is a Skilled Nursing Facility! There are nurses and aides all over the place. Wouldn’t they know how to help?
I hope this answers your question! Feel free to submit a volunteer application at your local rescue squad if you feel inclined to help solve the problem of not enough personnel and ambulances on the road!
Isn’t there a building for EMS at Golden Beach unused. It’s so busy there they need their own ambulance.
The building at Golden Beach is a *Fire* substation (Station 22) maintained by the Mechanicsville Fire Department. As such, you’ll note the lack of ‘rescue squad’ mentioned therein. To my knowledge, Mechanicsville Volunteer Rescue Squad used to have personnel who lived in Golden Beach and would sometimes park a unit there, but stopped doing so.
Also, the unit mentioned in this article is part of the paid staff. Therefore, not volunteers. They might not be welcome in the station.