Bill Revelas, left, receives the Volunteer of the Year award from Larry Pohl.

LVAC held its annual banquet and awards ceremony on Feb. 4, 2012 at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens in Depew. The evening featured cocktails and remarks by LVAC president Chester Popiolkowski before a sit-down dinner.

An invocation was given by LVAC chaplain Bob Kelly. Following dinner, awards were given out by LVAC Vice President Jeff Bono for: top 10 squad hours, top 5 page calls, top 10 calls taken, rookie of the year, volunteer of the year and employee of the year. The Explorers group and Bike Team were also recognized for their service. Length of service pins were handed out including one for dispatcher Bill Revelas who marked his 30th year of service to the corps.

See more photos from the banquet.

LVAC volunteer driver Todd Okoniewski swept three of the top categories. See the full list of awards:

Top 10 Squad Hours of 2011

1. Todd Okoniewski (1084 hours)
2. Bill Revelas (626 hours)
3. Daniella Rezabek (505 hours)
4. Luke Weishaupt (448 hours)
5. Polly Thoman (430 hours)
6. Bryan Park (378 hours)
7. Kristen Guadagno (366 hours)
8. Charlie Basher (351 hours)
9. Andrew Parker (325 hours)
10. Joseph Popiolkowski (288 hours)

Top 5 Page Calls Taken in 2011

1. Todd Okoniewski (61 page calls)
2. Mark Reed (60 page calls)
3. Tim Marshall (55 page calls)
4. Jeff Bono (40 page calls)
5. Polly Thoman (22 page calls)

Top 10 Calls Taken in 2011

1. Todd Okoniewski (184 calls)
2. Luke Weishaupt (80 calls)
3. Andrew Parker (79 calls)
4. Mark Reed (73 calls)
5. Allison Revelas (67 calls)
6. Tim Marshall (64 calls)
7. Larry Pohl (56 calls)
8. Jeff Bono (52 calls)
9. Bryan Park (52 calls)
10. Mark Reinhard (44 calls)

Rookies of the Year

• Kristen Guadagno & Andrew Parker

Volunteers of the Year

• Bill Revelas & Polly Thoman

Employee of the Year

• Bob Cuillo

Length of Service Pins

30 Years

• Bill Revelas

20 Years

• Nancy Revelas

5 Years

• Bob Kelly

1 Year

• Max Adams
• Nick Barton
• Bob Cuillo
• Brian Fischer
• Josh Gates
• Andy Hawkins
• Ellyn Hayes
• Sarah Hurd
• Jason Kaese
• Jerren Myers
• Joseph Punaro
• Amy Revelas
• Kyle Rzeszutek
• Lucas Weishaupt
• Jason Whelan
• Hugh Wolf

Instructor Donald Trzepacz Jr, middle, watches Andy Gangloff, left, and Jim Honeck practice spinal stabilization during an ITLS course at LVAC on Jan. 14-15.

LVAC and Mercy Flight teamed up Jan. 14-15 to offer an International Trauma Life Support (ITLS) course to area first responders. ITLS is designed to review, organize and prioritize the skills and didactic information needed to handle a multitude of trauma situations.

The program was instructed by the region’s leaders in trauma and critical care transport including Donald Trzepacz Jr., an LVAC paramedic and Education and Quality Improvement Manager for Mercy Flight. Participants were shown how to enhance their existing trauma care and reduce on-scene times in an effort to improve patient outcome.

Topics covered included Trauma Patient Assessment, Mechanisms of Injury, BLS and ALS Airway, Shock, Thoracic and Abdominal Trauma, Head and Spinal Trauma, Extremity Trauma, Burns and more.

Participants — which included EMS personnel and firefighters — were given extensive practical skills practice on Trauma Patient Assessment, Load and Go Situations, Rapid Extrication, BLS and ALS Airway, Spinal Immobilization Including KED and Short Board, Traction Splinting and Helmet Removal.

Eggertsville Hose Co. will host disability training sessions at its station (1880 Eggert Road, Amherst, NY 14226) on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

This presentation brings together an education on disabilities while enhancing sensitivity. Included in this are disabilities defined and appropriate response, characteristics and how to identify disabilities, the role of caregivers and service providers, federal and municipality roles and responsibilities, the perspective of the disability community, challenging scenarios and behavior and how to address them, current trends and topics, and etiquette and interaction skills. An extensive amount of resources will also be provided.

Niagara University (NU) has received the New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council (DDPC) First Responder (FR) Disability Awareness Training (DAT) grant. Over the course of the next two years we will be rolling out the curriculum for law enforcement, fire fighters, and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in regards to proper response to individuals with disabilities (IWDs) and all that this entails. This program will evolve into a Train the Trainer curriculum and also have other forms of delivery to best meet your needs.

David Whalen is the Statewide Program Coordinator. He has been training all walks of life in disability awareness for the past seven years and has been in the field of disabilities since 1986.

Please RSVP to Chief@eggertsvillehose.com. For more information visit www.eggertsvillehose.com.

LVAC board of directors, from left: Paul Welker, Allison Revelas, Amanda Popiolkowski, Nancy Franjoine, Chester Popiolkowski, Jeff Bono, Greg Jankiewicz, Larry Pohl, Mark Reed and Tim Marshall are sworn in by Town of Lancaster Supervisor Dino Fudoli.

LVAC’s officers were sworn in during a ceremony held at LVAC on Jan. 7. The officers were elected during the corps’ annual general membership meeting on Dec. 10.

LVAC members Paul Welker, Allison Revelas, Amanda Popiolkowski, Nancy Franjoine, Chester Popiolkowski, Jeff Bono, Greg Jankiewicz, Larry Pohl, Mark Reed, Kyle Rzeszutek and Tim Marshall took an oath of office administered by Town of Lancaster Supervisor Dino Fudoli.

Family, friends and local elected officials were invited to witness the ceremony during a lunchtime event.

“It is an honor to serve as an officer of LVAC,” said LVAC President Chester Popiolkowski “But is has always been a privilege for me to serve as president.”

See more photos from the event.

LVAC President Chester Popiolkowski

Read Popiolkowski’s full remarks from the swearing-in:

Good afternoon and welcome.

To begin, I want to thank Lancaster Supervisor, Dino Fudoli for participating in our induction of officers. And I am looking forward to working with him in future.

A new year is always a time for planning, changes, improvements, and new ideas.

The end of 2012 will mark the 60th year of the Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Corp. Over the past years many things have changed, some have not.

Vehicles, buildings, medical procedure and protocols have all changed. Our commitment of service to our community has not. This new year for LVAC will be a time of rededication and reaffirming that commitment to our community.

Many of you have heard me speak on where we’ve been and where we are headed. LVAC is much more than 911 medical unit. This past year we learned the significance of being pro-active, and having an outreach program. I refer to the job done by our bike patrol unit this past summer, the numerous stand-bys for schools and community events, and the educational demonstrations done at schools and social organizations. These are things no other service can provide for our residents. We are a tremendous resource for our town.

This organization has the knowledge, the talent, and the strength to do many things. With an active recruitment plan and through continued training we will sustain ourselves for the next 60 years.

It is an honor to serve as an officer of LVAC. But is has always been a privilege for me to serve as president. I’ve been lucky to have with me a board of directors that is knowledgeable and candid, and a tremendous resource. I thank them for their past years with me and look forward to working with this year’s board. I also thank the membership for their support, resolve and commitment.

LVAC provides responsible EMS services to the Town of Lancaster that is second to none. Lancaster is our community. We live here. Our work is personal. We serve our neighbors and each other. This year’s legacy for the officers will be to ensure that Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Corp will be active for at least the next 60 years.

The LVAC board of directors hold a vote during the corps' annual general membership meeting.

The Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Corps has elected Chester Popiolkowski as president of its board of directors for a third consecutive term. Other officers elected Dec. 10 during the corps’ annual general membership meeting are: secretary, Amanda Popiolkowski; director of maintenance, Joe Punaro; director of training, Debbie Szetela; general directors, Allison Revelas and Paul Welker. They will be formally sworn in during an installation ceremony in January.

Popiolkowski lauded the corps membership for its hard work and many achievements over the last year including the renewal of its contract with the Town of Lancaster.

“No matter what your contribution was, it had a significant impact on this organization,” he said while noting that LVAC is “a very solid organization.”

Meanwhile, LVAC Director of Operations Greg Jankiewicz congratulated crews for their “phenomenal” job this year in terms of quick response times and coverage of virtually all of its calls.

“There is no service — neither commercial nor volunteer — around Western New York that has better stats than we do,” he said.

The Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Corps serves the Town of Lancaster and villages of Lancaster and Depew. Its volunteer and career EMTs and paramedics respond annually to more than 3,500 emergencies.

Just a portion of the donated food.

Thanks to the generosity of shoppers and a team effort between two local service organizations, some struggling Lancaster families will have a brighter holiday season.

Lancaster’s Trinity Food Pantry received an estimated three tons of food and other goods on Nov. 19 following a daylong food drive organized by the Lancaster Volunteer Ambulance Corps (LVAC) and Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

“This is absolutely a tremendous help to us,” said Elizabeth Moll, the pantry’s volunteer director. “The combination of LVAC and OEM, the local churches and the school programs are the difference between giving out just a few cans of beans and tuna fish and being able to give people something that really helps them.”

30 LVAC volunteers stationed at the Tops Markets in the D&L Plaza and Walmart at William and Transit collected the food and more than $500 in cash donations and 11 frozen turkeys.

The food will be distributed to families over the next two months. The pantry is open three times a week with many people using it to supplement their grocery shopping, Moll said.

In fact, the pantry is experiencing a 30 percent increase over last year in the number of people using its services, she said. And with the holidays fast approaching, demand typically spikes.

“People are coming in in greater and greater numbers,” Moll said.

She called LVAC an “asset” to the community.

“I think doing this is very consistent with LVAC’s mission to help people in emergency situations because for many people this is an emergency,” she said. “It may not be a tornado or a heart attack but it certainly is an emergency when you don’t feel like you can feed your family adequately.”

Organized by Alli Revelas and Kyle Haniszewski, the drive included contributions from Rabie Alnaji, Elena Armitage, Charlie Basher, Nancy Franjoine, Andy Gangloff, Kristen Guadagno, Jonathan Hunter, Greg Jankiewicz, Mike Kugel, Tim Marshall, Max Martin, Greg Moreno, Todd Okoniewski, Andy Parker, Larry Pohl, Amanda Popiolkowski, Chester Popiolkowski, Joe Popiolkowski, Amanda Reiner, Mark Reinhard, Amy Revelas, Bill Revelas, Nancy Revelas, Daniela Rezabek, Rian Rodrigues, Kyle Rzeszutek, Jeanenne Thoman and Paul Welker.

“LVAC is really a group of caring individuals that are able to come together for the same cause,” Alli Revelas said.

See more photos from the food drive.

LVAC will be conducting a food and goods drive on Saturday, Nov. 19 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. All donations will go to the Trinity food pantry on Broadway in Lancaster.

Donations will be accepted at two locations: the D&L Plaza Tops and Walmart at William and Transit. LVAC members will be on hand to collect donations and conduct blood pressure checks for the public.

LVAC is partnering with Lancaster’s Office of Emergency Management for this event to help fill the shelves of the pantry before the holidays. Demand for the pantry’s services this year have increased substantially. LVAC is proud to support those less fortunate in the communities it serves and assist a worthy organization such as Trinity food pantry.

LVAC EMTs Amy Revelas, Alli Revelas and Kyle Rezutec on stand by Friday night for the Lancaster-Depew football game.

LVAC is often close by just in case we’re needed. LVAC’s EMTs have provided many EMS standby services during the last month at no cost to the organizations or taxpayers. LVAC partners with the community to provide ambulances and highly-trained EMS personnel at events in Lancaster and Depew. It’s just one of many ways LVAC shares its expertise with the communities it serves.

LVAC volunteers were on hand recently at the Lancaster vs. Depew football game held Oct. 14 at Depew High School. LVAC provided 3 vehicles (2 ambulances and a paramedic fly car) and 7 volunteers for the EMS stand by. In addition, LVAC took part in Lancaster’s motorcade earlier in the day.

LVAC assistant director of operations Tim Marshall takes part in a "live burn" on Sunday in Depew.

In addition, EMTs were on hand to support Depew firefighters at a training exercise called a “live burn” on Oct. 16 in Depew. See more photos from the burn.

LVAC has also provided standby services to other fire departments at their open houses this month.

A memorial service was held today to remember all the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The ceremony took place in the courtyard at the LVAC headquarters in Lancaster, NY. Several speakers gave tribute to the great loss of firefighters, EMS providers, police officers, and civilians.

A few of the LVAC members answered the call for help 10 years ago after the attacks in New York City. They traveled to ground zero and were on call to help out wherever needed. Larry Pohl, a 40 year volunteer of the LVAC was one of those who went to help. At the memorial today, Mr. Pohl accepted a plaque of appreciation from the New York Fire Department for LVAC’s role after 9/11.

The memorial was attended by LVAC members, local politicians, members of the Lancaster Fire Department and friends and family. Lancaster Town Supervisor Bob Giza spoke briefly to recognize the great losses from the attack.

Listen to the “final page” delivered by LVAC dispatcher Bill Revelas in honor of the victims of 9/11:

See more photos from the memorial.