Danville Lifesaving Crew Boasts First-Rate First Responders
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Forget about athletes and movie stars being heroes. People such as the Danville Lifesaving and First Aid Crew are the true heroes in life.
The crew is an all-volunteer organization of 115 Danville citizens who respond to life-threatening emergency calls, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The lifesaving group was called into action 5,541 times in 2008.
“It is incredible how much time and dedication these volunteers give – they are the greatest group of people I’ve ever been associated with,” says David Price, executive director of the Danville Lifesaving and First Aid Crew. “The volunteers are doctors, lawyers, nurses, ministers, business owners and private citizens who have a desire to train hard and ultimately learn how to respond to emergencies.”
Every time a 911 call is made in Danville, a dispatcher at the police department determines the severity of the situation. If it is indeed life-threatening, the Danville Lifesaving and First Aid Crew is contacted to handle the situation.
“If a citizen has a heart attack or stroke, then we are dispatched, but if someone broke their wrist and can’t drive to the hospital, we won’t respond because it isn’t life-threatening,” Price says. “We answer about 450 calls annually regarding vehicle wrecks, and extract 60-100 people each year from their cars and trucks. Danville also has a river running through town, so we have a special operations team consisting of 16 master divers who respond if a car goes into the river or if someone is drowning.”
The nonprofit group, which is a United Way agency, has an annual budget of $650,000 that helps pay for equipment. That equipment includes 14 vehicles, of which seven are ambulances and two are crash trucks.
“The volunteers serve free of charge and must work four eight-hour shifts each month at one of our two headquarter stations,” Price says. “We put out fires, perform emergency medical services and respond to wrecks. This is quite a group of Danville residents.”
