Flanders ambulance corps holds open house, recruitment day
The Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance held its annual Open House and Recruitment Saturday at its headquarters on Bell Avenue in Flanders.
The corps offered a bouncy house and water slide for the children while performing demonstrations in CPR and jaws of life. They also offered blood pressure screenings.
The Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance was organized in 1983, incorporated in 1984 and ran its first call in May 1985. The corps’ first chief was Ronnie Hintze, who continues in the corps as a board member.
The 50-member corps, which has about 30 active members, has had many firsts in its 27-year history: In 1987 it became the first ambulance district formed in the Town of Southampton; was the first Suffolk County volunteer corps to become NYS Certified in 1988; and ran the initial NYS pilot project in semi-automatic defibrillation in April 1989, 6 months before Suffolk County developed a systemwide EMT-D program.
The FNVA Ambulance district covers approximately 30 square miles and borders Riverhead, Eastport, Westhampton and Hampton Bays. In addition to its residential responsibilities, the FNVA covers Suffolk County Community College’s Riverhead Campus, The Evan K. Griffing County Center, The Suffolk County Correctional Facility and County and State Parklands.
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