[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 7, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO ST. MICHAEL'S COLLEGE STUDENT VOLUNTEERS
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I wish to draw the attention of the Senate
to a group of selfless volunteers at St. Michael's College in
Colchester, VT, who sacrificed time with their families and friends
this past holiday season to ensure that Vermonters in need of emergency
services had someone to call upon even on the Christmas holiday.
St. Michael's Fire and Rescue was founded in 1969 and has been
staffed and operated by student volunteers ever since. Donald Sutton,
affectionately known as ``Pappy'' around the firehouse, helped start
the organization as dean and director of campus security following the
untimely death of a student athlete on campus. Nearly 40 years later,
the organization serves as the primarily ambulance and fire service for
a large portion of the State's most populous region, Chittenden County.
The student volunteers who make this organization run find time
outside of their rigorous course work to not only be on call but also
to complete hundreds of hours of Emergency Medical Technician training
and Firefighter training. While their classmates may be battling
another school on the ice, on the field, or on the court--St. Michael's
Fire and Rescue members are risking their lives in real-life emergency
situations, aiding the sick, and putting out fires. Even during the
holidays, when schools shut down and students usually go home to visit
with family, these students stand watch for their community.
While I was at my family farm in Middlesex this holiday season, I
came across a Christmas Day Burlington Free Press article highlighting
the sacrifice of these students. I ask unanimous consent that the text
of that article be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Burlington Free Press, Dec. 25, 2008]
No Break for Students on Rescue Squad
(by Joel Banner Baird)
Colchester.--Their classmates might delight in holiday
downtime: late nights, late mornings, heavy meals and torpor.
On the night before Christmas, a student-staffed rescue
squad at St. Michael's College remains on-call and alert--by
choice. Time off will come to squad Capt. Kristen Dalton, 21,
later this week, after a 90-hour week at the College Parkway
station.
Her fellow St. Mike's seniors, Mark Petersen and Peter
Cronin, both 21, opted for holiday duty, too.
This is more than a club. The squad's 20 members are first-
responders who you see tending to car-wreck victims and
heart-attack patients. They respond to more than 2,700 calls
every year from Chittenden County residents, most of them in
Colchester, Winooski and Hinesburg. Dalton looked cheerful on
a slow Wednesday morning.
The biology major and pre-med student said she typically
logs 40 to 50 hours per week at St. Michael's Fire and
Rescue.
Each volunteer, certified as an Emergency Medical
Technician, puts in at least 24 hours per week, including a
12-hour overnight shift at the station.
``We hold ourselves to a 3-minute response time,'' Dalton
said. ``I throw a jumpsuit over my pajamas, I'm in my boots,
and I'm out the door.''
Like his captain, Petersen joined the squad as a freshman.
He said the commitment taught him how to juggle academic
commitments.
``It really, really forces you into time management,'' he
said.
Another learning curve brought him up to speed as a member
of a larger, adult community.
``What we do here is a lot of consequence-based decision-
making,'' he said. ``You see the results of your actions
right away. It makes you step back and say, `Hey--I'm not a
kid anymore.' ''
Interrupting him, a call came through dispatch: An infant
in Plattsburgh, N.Y., needed to be transported to Fletcher
Allen.
Petersen and Cronin did a final inspection of the neo-natal
intensive care truck--one of the station's three ambulances--
and headed out to pick up a specialist at the hospital en
route to New York.
Christmas Eve's activities would be anybody's guess.
Wrapped packages lay beneath a decorated tree in the ready
room. Cronin's parents said they'd cook breakfast for the
volunteers on Christmas morning.
Dalton said the squad would lose almost half of its members
after graduation. She's already planning a spring recruitment
drive.
``This attracts a lot of different people--people who want
to do something good with their time,'' she said.
As if on cue, Kate Soons of Colchester, a self-described
``lingering alum,'' entered with an overnight bag. She'd
heard about the Plattsburgh call and wanted to provide
backup.
Soons served with the squad in the 1980s, and now is a
nurse at Fletcher Allen. She also coordinates regional
emergency care training, and keeps tabs on St. Mike's
graduates who have chosen to stay active in the field.
Begun in 1969, the rescue squad is the busiest volunteer
ambulance unit in the state, she said.
``It's a big family,'' she said.
Soons' husband, Pete Soons, also served with rescue
volunteers as an undergraduate. He directs the college's
department of public safety, overseeing campus security,
rescue and fire squads.
Unlike the rescue volunteers, St. Michael's 25 firefighters
have an off-campus affiliation; they're a battalion in the
Colchester Center Volunteer Fire Company.
Standing between a hose truck and an engine, company
firefighter Gary Zeno discussed hydrant fittings with
freshman Andrea Dillner, 19. Still in training, Dillner will
accompany squads as a rookie until she qualifies for hands-on
work.
Nonetheless, she volunteered.
After a briefing with Zeno, she headed upstairs, past a
wall-sized calendar of shift schedules and birthdays, to take
a nap.
Dalton, coffee in hand, looked as wide-awake as ever on the
night before Christmas.
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