Longtime Schoharie County physician Joseph Luz of Schoharie shared this perspective on the October 6 Schoharie accident and the importance of “answering the call” to become a local EMS volunteer.

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On October 6, tragedy struck Schoharie County and our neighbors in the Amsterdam area.
On an otherwise quiet fall Saturday afternoon, a horrible vehicle accident occurred.
The consequences are profound and will be long-lasting.
In the early afternoon a stretch limousine carrying 18 people traveling at a high rate of speed went through a stop sign at the intersection of Route 30 and 30A, striking an SUV parked in the parking lot of an adjacent business.
The tremendous violent destructive forces generated by this collision were transmitted to the 18 people within the limo and to two bystanders struck in the parking lot.
These violent destructive forces were far in excess of what the frail human beings involved could withstand.
Ultimately, all 20 would die of their injuries.
The emergency response was immediate.
Schoharie County 911 dispatch immediately dispatched emergency medical and fire services. Scho-Wright Volunteer Ambulance Squad, located just two miles from the scene, had their ambulance crew on scene within minutes.
Many others would quickly follow including volunteer fire departments from Schoharie, Central Bridge, and Esperance.
Volunteer ambulance squads included not only Scho-Wright, but Central Bridge Fire Department Rescue Squad, MEVAC, Esperance VFD Rescue Squad, Richmondville Vol. Ambulance Squad, and Duanesburgh Vol. Ambulance Squad.
The Schoharie County EMS paramedic, AMR ambulance (with paramedic), and the LifeNet Medical Evac helicopter (with their air paramedic and flight nurse) all responded to the scene. Police assistance from the Schoharie County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police quickly arrived to help manage the initial chaos.
All, first and foremost working to save any human life possible.
It was certainly a noisy chaotic scene.
One noise however was eerily missing; the cries and calls from injured within the vehicle.
When the rescuers were able to enter the vehicle, they found what appeared to be a mass of dead.
They worked rapidly to try to find any living person.
Only one young woman showed clear signs of movement and life.
When she could be extricated from the vehicle, she was clearly critically injured. She was attended by the emergency medical responders to include the Schoharie County Paramedic, the flight paramedic and flight nurse from LifeNet in hopes of quickly transporting her to the Level 1 Trauma Center at Albany Medical Center.
She was too medically unstable to transport by helicopter and likely would have died in route by ground transport.
She needed a critical medical resource to try to stabilize her condition and allow air transport to the Level 1 Trauma Center.
That resource was emergency transfusion of blood, the closest source being Cobleskill Regional Hospital.
She was transported by Central Bridge VFD Rescue Squad ambulance attended by the ambulance EMT, the Schoharie County Paramedic, along with the flight nurse and paramedic from LifeNet to Cobleskill Regional Hospital.
While unstable she survived to reach Cobleskill Regional Hospital. A brief discussion was carried out about removing her from the ambulance into the hospital emergency room.
Clearly, Cobleskill Regional Hospital emergency room facilities could not save her.
Two units of blood were provided for emergency transfusion. The flight nurse and medic started the transfusion allowing helicopter transport to level I Trauma Ctr. at Albany Medical Center.
Her care was transferred to the trauma team at Albany Medical Center. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of all concerned, she would die of her injuries several hours later.
We in Schoharie County grieve in solidarity with our neighbors in the Amsterdam area who lost so many loved ones.
We all owe a profound thank you to all of those first responders who responded so quickly to this awful accident.
Your efforts in such difficult circumstances were remarkable.
In Schoharie County, you truly are our small-town hometown heroes.
For us in Schoharie County, this is a reminder that our emergency fire and medical services are essential services.
Schoharie County, like much of New York State and rural America, is an area of lots of land, small towns, and relatively low population.
Our emergency fire and medical services are largely provided by volunteer fire departments and volunteer emergency medical squads.
Volunteer fire departments and volunteer ambulance squads are groups of extremely dedicated community members working together to provide essential services.
We tend to take these for granted.
Being the medical director for many of our volunteer ambulance squads as well as for the County Level Office of Emergency Services, I know well that these volunteer agencies are under significant stress.
Numbers of volunteers to our volunteer fire departments and volunteer ambulance/rescue squads has decreased dramatically over the years.
Many operate with only a handful of members, which has significantly limited their effectiveness.
The overall age of volunteers has increased and as volunteer numbers have declined; stress on remaining members to try to meet the need leads to burn out of the remaining members.
Exactly why this has happened is somewhat unclear.
Maybe it is the training requirements to fully participate, maybe people are just too busy, maybe members of the community don’t fully appreciate the necessity, maybe people are too wrapped up in the virtual world instead of the real world, or something else altogether.
Countywide efforts have been started to try to help with this over the past several years.
These have included countywide meetings of emergency services agencies to try to address the problem.
The County Office of Emergency Services and Emergency Medical Services under the leadership of Mike Hartzel, Office of Emergency Services director and Ed Brandt, Emergency Medical Services coordinator, have proposed several creative steps to supplement and support our volunteer services.
The Schoharie County Board of Supervisors have been very supportive in these efforts.
They are showing some very positive effects on emergency medical response.
Additionally some organizational steps are being contemplated that may well relieve some of volunteer agency stresses and make better use of our resources.
But, individual community members deciding to answer the call to join their volunteer ambulance/rescue squad or volunteer fire department is the best solution yet.
Your help is needed.
There are many ways to help.
Do not let the events of the last few weeks scare you off.
There are lots of times when being a member will be just plain old boring or just plain old fun or just plain old rewarding.
You will always be a member of a team providing an essential service to your community.
Interested in emergency medical services?
•Your local emergency medical squad has lots of need: Be a driver, be an ambulance aid (assists the EMT), become an EMT.
Administrative assistants are also needed.
•Are you younger and want to get some emergency medical training, provide service to your community, and maybe go on to some sort of paid position? Give a call
•Are you a somewhat older/ but still young at heart retired individual who wants something more exciting than sitting in a rocking chair or golf to fill part of your retirement? Give a call.
•Are you a working person or stay at home parent who would like to get involved in providing an essential service to your community? Give a call.
•None of the above but interested? Give a call.
Interested in volunteer fire services?
•Your local volunteer fire department has lots of need: Be trained as a firefighter interior or exterior; become a fire policeman; join the auxiliary.
•Are you younger and want to get some firefighting training, provide service to your community, and maybe go on to some sort of paid position? Give a call.
•Are you a somewhat older/ but still young at heart retired individual who wants something more exciting than sitting in a rocking chair or golf to fill part of your retirement? Give a call.
•Are you a working person or stay at home parent who would like to get involved in providing an essential service to your community? Give a call.
•None of the above but interested? Give a call.
Here’s how to start: Call Colleen Flynn at Schoharie County Office of Emergency Services (518)295-2276.
Do you have a fire in you? Do you have a medical rescue in you? Do you have a small town hometown hero in you?
You know what to do: Give a call.
In memory of the fallen, in honor of the first responders.

Joseph M. Luz MD
Joseph.luz@bassett.org
Joeluz1953@yahoo.com