To the Editor:

Thank you to North Country This Week for its coverage of the local rescue squads and the challenges of covering the increased demands placed on them over the years “Squad Calls Rising at Rapid Rates,” which appeared in the Jan. 18-24 issue.

I would like to encourage your readers to consider joining one of these fantastic organizations. As a member of Potsdam Volunteer Rescue Squad I have found my experience immensely rewarding. As a new member I received orientation to our organization and served on a crew, learning the ins and outs of serving our community members in need.

Monthly meetings and trainings allowed me to quickly become integrated into the membership and develop relationships with a great variety of people with a similar commitment interest in serving the emergency medical needs of our community.

The state pays for semester-long EMT training for active members of a squad and PVRS supported me as I learned to apply my skills.

As your article highlighted, recruiting new volunteers can be a significant challenge. I want to encourage community members who are 18 years or older who are interested in making a volunteer commitment to serving their community on a rescue squad to go to the PVRS website at www.PVRS.org, or the website of their local rescue squad, to learn more about our organization and submit an application.

Coreen C. Bohl

Recruitment and Retention Committee chairperson