By Esteban Fernandez
Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — A 50-year-old photo stirred memories for Janet Chittum.
Chittum, 86, is roughly in her mid-30s in the photo. She’s surrounded by other members of the original Marion County Rescue Squad, back when they were still a volunteer operation in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Squad members, dressed in white uniforms, are assembled around an old GMC they turned into an ambulance.
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“It’s like going back in time,” Chittum said. “I don’t know. Sometimes it kind of makes me cry. I had wonderful times as a squad.”
The members of the original volunteer Marion County Rescue Squad gathered Wednesday afternoon at Fleming Memorial Presbyterian Church to reminisce about their days before the agency moved away from its volunteer roots toward a traditional ambulance unit. The squad formed in 1972 under Doug LaFauci.
Bill Stanley, who was with the squad from the very beginning, said LaFauci formed the squad after encountering a car wreck, where none of the victims received physical care or first aid.
“He thought there had to be a better way,” Stanley said. “He got together with different community groups, fundraised, gathered people in, asked them to send representatives from their organizations and he recruited among the college kids and said, come on down. This is worthwhile.”
That’s how Stanley ended up joining. Stanley and the other college recruits, received training in CPR. They also established the first EMT classes in the area. The first year was wildly different from how things are now, he said.
“Their first year, we probably had less than 200 calls,” Stanley said. “We were listed in the phone book under ambulance care. We were the only people listed. They do 10,000 calls a year now.”
Stanley said the rescue squad used to be much different than it is now. The squad used to not just do paramedic work, they carried rescue equipment as well, such as the jaws of life for car wrecks. That work is now done by fire departments, with the modern Rescue Squad performing paramedic work. The volunteer version of the squad also provided a stepping stone into the medical field for people who joined.
Donald Scott is one of the people who owes his paramedic career to the rescue squad. He joined in 1983, out of high school. Scott later became a Fairmont Firefighter in 1989, before moving to Washington D.C. where he was one of the first responders who witnessed 9/11.
He said there was a transition in the mid-80s, after the state passed a law prohibiting funeral homes from transporting elderly patients to hospital visits in hearses. He said the funeral homes didn’t charge for the service, but hoped they would receive the client’s business after they passed. The Rescue Squad took over the work, which led to the first paid positions.
Scott said at the same time, economic conditions put further pressure on the squad.
“When people started having to take two jobs, or two family members had to work, volunteers went down and was kind of the demise of the squad,” Scott said. “People didn’t have time, and then also the requirements started going up. Before, a person could drive the ambulance for just a Red Cross card. Now, you got to have an associate’s degree to get on the ambulance. So it changed.”
Scott said it’s a lot harder to be a paramedic and ambulance attendant today.
Stanley and Dumire had some mixed feelings on the modern iteration of the squad.
The rise of paid members led to the demise of the volunteer aspect, and it caused dissension at the time in the mid-80s. But Stanley said life changes.
At the gathering, the former volunteers focused on the family they found with each other for two decades in the latter half of the 20th century. Randall Kocsis , another volunteer and former Division of Natural Resources officer, said many people from the community, from all types of background, came together to make it happen.
“Everybody in this room is a lifelong friend,” Scott said. “And I still keep in touch with a bunch.”
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