By Shauntel Lowe
Vallejo Times Herald (California)
SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. — From birthday parties to dinners, all family gatherings start with one rule in Cindy Pierson’s circle.
“No Medic talk!” she said from the main office of Medic Ambulance Service, Inc., which her family has owned since 1979.
But, Pierson said, no matter what the ground rules, all family get-togethers turn into a rehash session of the trials and joys of saving — and sometimes losing — Solano County lives.
That’s what happens when medicine is in your blood, as siblings Cindy, Sandy and Jim Pierson described it Friday.
The family-owned ambulance service, which often covers school sporting events, was recently honored by Vallejo City Unified School District officials.
Lining its office walls are plaques and certificates praising the service for excellent service.
“It’s important to be good,” said owner Marisa Luchini, the siblings’ aunt.
The family members say they take pride in a nearly
100 percent rate of meeting response time guidelines. They are expected to respond to calls, depending on their location, within nine to 12 minutes and typically get there in nine minutes, Jim Pierson said.
The operation is staffed with various cousins, aunts and uncles along with some non-blood-related, but still “family” employees, Luchini said.
Luchini said they try to treat everyone with compassion, including the patients they serve.
Jim Pierson, 25, a trained paramedic, said it can be difficult at times going out into the field where people’s lives are in his hands. He said he tries to keep a bit of distance by viewing the patients as just that, instead of always seeing them as someone’s mother or sister.
The job can be stressful, they all agreed, but they said a love for helping people helps them keep it under control.
There are counseling services available for employees who need help after dealing with tough calls, Cindy Pierson said.
As a registered nurse, Cindy Pierson is in charge of making sure ambulance operators are following proper protocol.
Her twin, Sandy, oversees the dispatchers who coordinate ambulance units at various posts across the county.
Luchini said she would like to continue serving the area, as the community has become family to her family over their decades of service. The company’s contract with the city of Vallejo is currently up and a bid for a new one has not yet been approved.
Though working with family all day — and then seeing them again at parties and dinners — can work a person’s nerves, they are all glad to be able to do something they enjoy for a community in which they live, Luchini said.
“We strive to do our best,” Luchini said.
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