NY ambulance corps seeks grant, struggles to say afloat

After 26 years, the founder is using money from a reverse mortgage and his NYFD pension to fund the volunteer agency, and hopes to raise $125K to receive a reimbursement grant

The New York Times

NEW YORK — The phone never stops ringing at Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and not just for urgent medical help. These days, many of the callers are looking to train as emergency medical technicians with the hope of finding steady work with decent pay.

“Man, it’s all day,” Reggie Crawford said after he told a caller another class begins early next year. “It’s gone up lately. People want jobs. Maybe they saw someone they used to hang with come here and get a job with the Fire Department. In this community, some people lost hope. They need to see people make it.”

In 26 years of serving this community with ambulance calls — including transporting one of the mortally wounded police officers on Saturday — and training thousands of people in medical technician, first aid and CPR skills, the group needs some emergency assistance itself. Although it is eligible for a $125,000 state grant, the money comes with a condition: It could be used to reimburse the corps only for funds it had already spent. In other words, they had to have money before they could get more.

Read full story: A Brooklyn Ambulance Corps Is Seeking Its Own Emergency Aid