Ceremony marks service's milestone
Alan Lewis Gerstenecker | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 years, 7 months AGO
Sunday was a great fall day to mark the 40th anniversary of Troy’s Volunteer Ambulance Service and Dr. Jay Maloney didn’t disappoint.
Maloney, who is the agency’s medical director, served up an inspirational message that inspired most and left at least a few wet eyes.
“When it’s 3 a.m. after a long day, and I know a call will mean another three hours, and then I hear their voice on the radio, it helps me (continue),” Maloney said.
“I don’t think I could do my job if you people weren’t doing yours,” an emotional Maloney relayed to the crowd Sunday,
The St. John’s Lutheran Hospital ER doctor also spoke of how dealing with patients in the last hour of their lives inspires, explaining how he pushes ahead during those long nights.
An avid marksman, Maloney was presented with a Glock handgun by the TVA members in gratitude for his service to the service and to the residents of Troy and surrounding areas.
Current TVA President Warren Edson, Vice President Ed Apple and Treasurer-Secretary Pat Shira made the presentation, which included a holster for the .45 -caliber. Maloney also received an LED flashlight, explained Shira, saying he could use one of those.
Maloney also was presented with a plaque thanking him for his year’s of service, as did Warren Robbe, for his service during the early years of the agency.
The afternoon also featured stories from John Konzen, former Lincoln County Commissioner and an original member of the ambulance board.
Others offered anecdotal stories of long nights when a shift included 13 calls during a 24-hour shift during a long Fourth of July.
Another relayed a story of a paging phone call in which the handset was stretched and pulled the phone base off a shelf above the bed and hit the wife of a volunteer.
“The shelf was moved the next day,” the story was told by that wife.
In all, at the high point, 46 people were in attendance, accented by three modern ambulances, a far stretch from the 1957 Chevrolet wagon that served as the first ambulance in 1972.
“We’ve come a long way,” Konzen told the crowd.
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