Commack Ambulance Corps Teaches Safety to Burr Students

Members of the Commack Volunteer Ambulance Corps visited Burr Intermediate School Thursday and Friday to teach first aid and emergency safety to the school's fifth grade class.

During the annual presentation, which includes interactive scenarios and a tour of an actual ambulance bus, students learn basic first aid skills and emergency procedures, including what to say if you have to call 911.

The program, which has been going on for about 10 years, was spearheaded by former volunteer Joan Bosinius.

During the interactive portion, students act out a real-life scenarios, including a situation in which a family member falls and hits their head, and they must call 911 to get help.

"We feel fifth graders are the perfect age to learn, they're old enough to understand," said Volunteer Dispacther Ronnie Schaffer. "We teach them how to dial 911, what to say and to teach them that we're here to help them when they need it."

EMT Chris Gallway, who's been on the team for about a year, was working on about three hours of sleep, having delivered a healthy baby girl in an ambulance the night before. It marked his first-ever delivery.

"It was difficult to sleep after that experience," he said.

Gallway was joined by Renee Cotter, who comes from a long line of Commack Ambulance Corps volunteers. Cotter's grandfather Jack helped found the Ambulance Corps in the 1960s.

The volunteers braved the high temperatures to give the kids a tour of one of Commack's ambulances, and a few student volunteers were put in neck braces and transported onto a stretcher, as though they were injured.

"We show them that nothing we do can hurt them," said Schaffer.

At the end of the presentations, students were given a "Help Card" which lists  contacts should they find themselves in a real-life emergency.