Prehospital Profiles: Whitestone Volunteer Ambulance Service

Whitestone Volunteer Ambulance Service in Queens, N.Y. is one of just three services left in New York City that doesn’t bill for services, says public relations director Jay Fassler.

Call it crazy or call it noble, but when people ask why they struggle to get by on donations alone, Fassler says it’s also a key to their success.

He explains that it goes back to their history.

“We started in 1947,” he says. Like other early ambulance services, they ran out of a local funeral home. “Slowly but surely, as EMS progressed we got our own station, donated by the funeral home,” he says.

From that time forward, the service has evolved entirely on community support.

Today they run two ambulances and have about 100 members, including the board, dispatch, etc. The responders are all BLS level, depending primarily on about 15 highly active members who put in 30-40 hours per week. They serve the 11357 zip code, answering about 1,200 calls per year to provide emergency, transport and standby services for 35,000 residents.

Fassler explains how ambulance service works in NYC. “A lot of people wonder, what role does private ambulance service play in New York City anymore?” he says.

All city 911 calls dispatch FDNY or hospitals within the city system, he says. To utilize one of the local volunteer ambulance services that exist, residents of that service area need to call the service’s hotline directly.

So why do people call? In their case, it has a lot to do with community, loyalty—and knowing they won’t get billed.

“Years ago, everyone was calling us,” Fassler says. “Then it went down for about five to 10 years as new people moved in who didn’t know we existed.”

The service has since been publicizing their offerings and increasing their visibility. They provide services such as free blood pressure readings, and lend out medical equipment such as walkers, canes, wheelchairs and crutches at no charge. Throughout the year they host blood drives and community events.

Through the years and all the efforts, they have maintained a constant donation base. “Some people have been donating since 1947,” Fassler says.

He estimates their annual budget at about $100,000 for running the ambulances and little else, since they own the property that was donated to them.

“That’s 110 percent what it’s about,” he says.

He notes that they have applied for grants but haven’t received one yet.

Fassler adds that the city’s volunteer EMS services also play a vital role during emergencies such as 9/11 and Superstorm Sandy. “All the volunteer ambulances stepped up,” he says, providing coverage while city services were overwhelmed.

Sometimes the city will ask if a volunteer ambulance provider is able to deploy to another area, and the answer varies by service, Fassler says. “What we like to maintain is our neighborhood. We really try to maintain an ambulance at all times in our area.”

Surviving on Donations

Whitestone Volunteer Ambulance Service has a fundraising director who puts out mailings to residents, and when they run calls, they provide patients with a form they can choose to use to mail in any donation. They also run occasional 50/50 raffles.

“People are like, ‘Oh my gosh, how do you do it?’ The other ambulance services have some nicer things than us, but it’s a gamble that we take,” Fassler says.

“Once you start billing insurance you have to go after people for the co-pays, and we don’t want to put people in the community in that position.”

They especially wouldn’t want to try to collect from anyone who has been donating for years, Fassler adds.

“The community is what brought us to where we are today… we’re not able to thrive, but we are able to survive. Until it comes to closing the doors or billing, then it would have to come up again.”

He says the issue will always remain a battle of pros and cons, but it comes down to community history and pride.

“The people want to give,” he says. “You just have to get to know them.”