Oldest Ambulance Service

James Fischer

James Fischer

PCS Member
It has come up in a discussion group as who the longest continuous operating ambulance service in the US might be .And as always I am checking here for to the all knowing members of this club what your input would be.

I have my idea but would like to see others .:)
 
It was probably a hospital or fire department still in operation today as there are photos of horse-drawn “invalid hacks” that served as early ambulances.
 
At the time it began Greece Volunteer Ambulance in NY became one of the pioneers second to a Vol Service around Washington DC. GVA is still in operation although no longer entirely Vol staffed.

Older ambulances existed in the county, owned and operated by Vol FDs and a VFW Post, but most of them have dropped out.

Odd as it seems the biggest opposition to GVA getting rolling came from VFDs.

The original barn was a town owned garage at a sewage plant that had room to house the used Pontiac that finally got to squack A-6 on Fire radio after some sane people sat at a table and decided it made sense for GVA to have Fire radio since they attended fires and were dispatched by City fire to calls coming into the county's main fire phone.

GVA's first barn of its own was a split level house next to a church put up by donors who calculated if GVA busted out the house could be sold to satisfy some debt.
 
Walter Suiter said:
At the time it began Greece Volunteer Ambulance in NY became one of the pioneers second to a Vol Service around Washington DC. GVA is still in operation although no longer entirely Vol staffed.

Older ambulances existed in the county, owned and operated by Vol FDs and a VFW Post, but most of them have dropped out.

Odd as it seems the biggest opposition to GVA getting rolling came from VFDs.

The original barn was a town owned garage at a sewage plant that had room to house the used Pontiac that finally got to squack A-6 on Fire radio after some sane people sat at a table and decided it made sense for GVA to have Fire radio since they attended fires and were dispatched by City fire to calls coming into the county's main fire phone.

GVA's first barn of its own was a split level house next to a church put up by donors who calculated if GVA busted out the house could be sold to satisfy some debt.
Click to expand...

Any DATES you can share ??
 
Began in 59-60.
I have held the incorporating documents in my hand and knew the lady who typed them up.

GVA does have a web site with some of their history on it. Unfortunately the historian began searching around 2010 and many documents had powdered by then.

The early days were some fun experiences looking back, especially the brawls over women riding the rig as medics, and we all know no woman could ever drive that huge vehicle. That hit the skids fast when the girls suggested the macho men count the station wagons in the parking lot. A few holdouts ate some burned meals till they saw the light.

In the 60s GVA easily put 100 members in Fire Department parades, and by the 80s was a woman run & dominated corps. Mid 70s, women were even 'allowed' to work bunker shifts.

The DC Corps I have no information on, I just recall they were referred to frequently when GVA was getting going.
 
My wifes Aunt Mureiell Volunteered with the Lansdale Pa. Volunteer Medical Service Corps and she drove Fixable Buicks they had in the 40s. Told me the brakes on the Buicks were terrible always fading out. "You would get to the hospital and have to double clutch it into first gear shut the key off to stop." When they went to Cadillacs she said the problem was gone.
 
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