DURHAM – For 40 years, Patrick Ahearn has volunteered for McGregor Memorial EMS, and he still loves what he does.
Formerly Durham Ambulance Corps, the nonprofit organization provides emergency health care and education to the University of New Hampshire campus and the towns of Durham, Madbury and Lee.
Ahearn, who works as a lieutenant and paramedic in Ossipee, where he lives, said he keeps giving back in Durham because that is where he got his start. Ahearn was a freshman at UNH when he became interested in what the EMS group was doing.
“I took a couple of programs there, and then another class in the spring, and another in the fall,” Ahearn said. “I applied for the ambulance in October of 1975.”
Over the years, Ahearn has helped to train a number of UNH students, and he enjoys interacting with them because they are “new, enthusiastic … hungry.”
“Having the opportunity to mentor them is equally as rewarding as dealing with the patients on the streets,” he said.
Ahearn said the service has three or four staff members and approximately 75 volunteers at any given time. They receive between 1,900 and 2,000 calls a year, using two fully equipped ambulances and a reserve vehicle, if necessary.
“We have a paramedic on call 24/7,” Ahearn said.
Volunteer-based rescue services across the state are shrinking as the years pass. Ahearn said he is proud to be part of the first volunteer-based full paramedic system in the state.
Durham Ambulance Corps was founded in 1968, after Dr. George McGregor passed away the day before the 1967 March town meeting. It was decided this would be a fitting memorial for the family physician who, during his career, was called to emergency scenes to render care or pronounce the patient dead.
Bill Cote, executive director at McGregor Memorial EMS, said Ahearn has an incredible memory of the history of the organization and how it has grown over the years.
“He’s been the rock of stability,” Cote said.
Recently, Ahearn got the opportunity of a lifetime. At a conference at FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala., participants were put through a streetscape simulation where light, sounds, smoke and air quality were all controlled. Then, with a number of SIM men, they had to implement their new training on decontaminating people prior to transport.
“We didn’t know if what was on them was purely explosive, biological or chemical. We had to determine who was not viable, or dead,” Ahearn said. “It was a phenomenal experience.”
The public is welcome to observe the services McGregor Memorial EMS provides. They offer ride-a-longs to anyone who is interested.
For more information, visit www.mcgregorems.org.
New Hampshire Paramedic Honored for Volunteer Service
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