By Debbie Adams
The Vinton First Aid Crew has released its report on its operations for the year 2019. Its volunteers contributed 20,679 man-hours to Vinton and the surrounding area in the past year.
The VFAC had a unit in service 98 percent of the volunteer hours on nights and weekends. Volunteer truck hours were 5513 out of a possible 5616 hours.
The Vinton station received 2719 calls for service during both career and volunteer hours—1209 during Career hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1510 during volunteer hours.
Of those 2719 calls, 1532 were for Advanced Life Support, 634 were for Basic Life Support, 188 were service calls, 161 were fire calls, 126 were vehicle accidents, 53 were Assist Rescue Calls, 16 were Standbys, and five were other types of calls.
As for location, 1840 were in Vinton, 483 in East Roanoke County, 331 in other sections of Roanoke County (Read Mountain 230, North County 57, Mount Pleasant 29, Hollins 10, Cave Spring 2, Clearbrook 2, and Masons Cove 1). The VFAC also responded to 27 calls in Bedford, 21 in Roanoke City, and seven in Botetourt County.
The VFAC Medic Truck was marked up 82 percent of the time and a BLS Unit the other 18 percent.
Volunteers responded to 1130 out of 1510 calls during volunteer hours.
A total of 1661 transports were made, 1033 during career hours and 628 during volunteer hours.
Reaction time from dispatch to Enroute was .50 seconds–96 percent of the calls in under two minutes. Time from dispatch to arriving on the scene averaged 5.65 minutes. Fractile response was 9.56 minutes, well below the 12-minute standard.
The Vinton First Aid Crew currently has 49 members: 30 EMT’s, two Advanced EMT’s, 10 Medics, seven currently in training, and several applications in progress.
Individual man-hours for the year include: Vinton First Aid Crew Chief Wayne Guffey with 2065 hours of service, Assistant Chief Chris Sayer with 1400, First Lieutenant Brandan Arthur with 1101, Cody Rock with 995, and Captain Mitch Vaughan with 894.
Top Call Runners for 2019 were Chief Guffey with 394 calls, Chris Sayer with 278, Cody Rock with 156, Brandan Arthur with 145, and Second Lieutenant Tom Philpott with 144.
Vinton First Aid Crew officers for 2019-2020 year include:
- Rescue Chief Wayne Guffey
- President Doug Adams
- Vice-President, Sergeant, and Assistant Treasurer Jason Peters
- Assistant Rescue Chief Chris Sayre
- Captain Mitch Vaughan
- First Lieutenant for Training Brandan Arthur
- Second Lieutenant for Mechanical/Medical Tom Philpott
- Treasurer Sydney Myers
- Secretary Sandy Sayre
- Chaplain Tom Philpott
- Public Information Officer Taylor Ralph
- Registered Agent Bob Wingfield
The Vinton First Aid Crew was founded in 1939 and celebrated their 80th anniversary in October 2019. The volunteers assist with all types of calls ranging from providing emergency medical services, to assisting the Fire Department with house fires, to natural disasters, car wrecks, or assisting someone who has fallen or needs their vitals checked.
The Vinton First Aid Crew assists with standbys at William Byrd Football games and special events in the town. They provide public education opportunities to help citizens be more informed.
Thanks to the dedicated members of the Vinton First Aid Crew whose motto has long been, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” from John 15:13.