OGDENSBURG -- During the 2017 calendar year, Volunteer Rescue Squad was requested to respond to a total of 2,613 calls for service.

This resulted in 2,399 actual patient care reports, according to the squad’s annual report.

OVRS averaged seven calls a day, 232 calls a month, with the busiest month being August.

The OVRS responded to 1,708 in the City of Ogdensburg, 273 in the Town of Oswegatchie, 129 in the Town of Lisbon, 112 in the Village of Heuvelton, 41 in the Town and Village of Morristown, 40 in the Town and Village of Waddington, 54 in the Town and Village of Hammond, 17 in the Town of Depeyster. The squad also took calls in the Town’s of Macomb, Russell, Hermon, Gouverneur, Dekalb, Madrid, Massena and Rossie.

In addition, the squad responded to the Village of Rennselaer Falls and were available to many other agencies for ALS intercepts. OVRS also aided in 70 transfers from hospital to hospital, for the critically ill patients, usually to Syracuse or Burlington, Vt.

The squad treated patients for the following complaints: abdominal pain – 100, allergic reactions – 11, altered mental status – 90, assaults – 32, back pain – 59, breathing problems – 209, burns – 1, cardiac arrests – 32, chest pains – 167, choking – 6, seizures – 89, diabetic problems – 47, falls – 250, hemorrhage/lacerations – 57, overdose – 42, pain – 103, traffic accidents – 125, traumatic injuries – 53, stroke/cva – 44, unconscious/fainting – 86 and many other miscellaneous calls for service. OVRS had an increase in assaults, altered mental status and traffic accidents.

Proof that the opioid epidemic has touched OVRS, a significant increase in overdoses occurred in 2017. On a good note, the number of falls and breathing problem calls were down.

On average, Ogdensburg Volunteer Rescue Squad was enroute to a call within 2.49 minutes and arrived on scene in less than 4.30 minutes of dispatch in the 13669-zip code.

“When you include all surrounding areas we service, our on-scene time is an amazing 7.23 minutes, especially considering many of our travel times are well over 20 minutes,” a report from the rescue squad says.