Manchester EMS Has Jolly Holiday With Echo The Elf's Adventures

MANCHESTER, NJ — When the elves descended on Manchester for their annual December watch, one made sure the folks at the Manchester Township Emergency Medical Services were taking care of business, too.

Echo the Elf has been hanging out all month, and the EMS folks have been documenting his adventures on the township EMS's Facebook page, bringing a bit of mirth to the holiday season.

Echo first appeared Dec. 1, hanging out with one of the crews, and on Dec. 2 he found his way into trouble, after the EMS squads headed out for a call:

Twas’ the 2nd of December, when all through the land,
Not a call was pending, not one thing was out of hand;
The rigs were stocked in the bays with care,
In hopes that no emergency would come in, not even a scare;
The EMTs just sat down for quick meal at the table,
While waiting for a call, ready and able.
Savannah in her Santa Hat, Shane in his meticulous uniform,
Had just settled in for a snack, not a thing out the norm’,
When out in the truck bays there arose such a clatter,
The EMTs sprang from their chairs to see what was the matter.
Away to the truck bay’s Shane bounded and dashed,
Tore open the door and emergency lights flashed!
When what to the EMTs wondering eyes did appear,
Echo the Elf, laughing and smiling, ear to ear.
The little elf so lively and quick,
Enjoyed his fantastic and fun, brand new trick,
Faster than pine goats, he worked the controls,
Echo the Elf manned the UTV far better, than all of the patrols!
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the gloves on his hands were as white as the snow;
He had a slim face and a teeny tiny little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was cheery and giddy, a right jolly young elf,
And they laughed when they saw him, in spite of themselves;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Reassured the EMTs they had nothing to dread;
Savannah and Shane coaxed him out of the seat,
Despite Echo’s pleas to let him hit the street.
Over the radio, a voice they did hear,
Dispatch piped up an emergency call was near.
They sprang to the rig, and the sirens began to whistle,
And away they flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard them exclaim, as they drove out of sight-
“Echo behave, it’s a long time to go before the end of the night!”

The next day they found him sunning himself under the UV-C power of the ClorDiSys Lanterns used to disinfect the surfaces in the ambulance of dangerous organisms and protects our personnel.

"Needless to say we convinced him out of his luxurious perch this morning because the work of serving our citizens never stops here at MEMS," Director Robert Baran wrote.

After that, he made the rounds of Manchester Town Hall:

"Echo couldn't contain his excitement this morning when we told him he could go over to Town Hall in search of the 'Big Man.' Echo passed through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops," and took the elevator to Mayor Ken Palmer's office. Palmer was out at the time, and "it seems Echo decided to give himself a new title, Mayor Echo the Elf!"

No word on what Palmer thought of Echo's attempt to take over.

He found his way to the tax assessor's office, where he "found the perfect map to plot out the Naughty/Nice List."

At that point, Police Chief Lisa Parker had School Resource Officer Victoria Raub and Detective Richard Jupinka on the case.

"Echo dropped into the office of our friend Jim Gant (Director of Personnel) and quickly commandeered his Fa La Llama with the Manchester Police Detectives hot on his heels! Witnesses were in awe of the little llama rider as he galloped through the hallways, only to disappear somewhere on the first floor ..." Baran wrote.

They finally tracked him down a few days later:

"Did you know the four main food groups of Elves are candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup? Well while exploring Town Hall last night, our little friend happened upon a fully stocked jar of candy ... Little Echo couldn’t resist the temptation of the sweets and he ate every single piece. Things were going well for our little friend as he bounced off the walls but he made one very costly mistake, he forgot about the sugar crash!" Baran said.

"You see once an Elf burns off all the sugar they have eaten, they fall into a very deep sleep without warning. Det. Jupinka, hot on the heels of Echo, caught the little mischief maker curled up in a wreath, fast asleep as visions of sugar plums danced in his head. Echo stood about as much of a chance against Manchester Police, as a snowball does in Miami."

They booked Echo on "charges of Elf Mischief (N.P.S.A. 2C:17-4) and Grand Theft Llama (N.P.S.A. 2C:20-2.2)."

"Elf mittens prove troublesome for high tech methods of identification so the detectives had no choice but to go old school and use the ink and card method. Pictured below Det. Jupinka examines the prints for clarity. The Detective Bureau has informed us that Echo is fully cooperating and has even brought a bit of cheer by singing loud for all to hear."

Raub put her outstanding interview skills to work, Baran said, but "Echo has upheld his Elf Oath and protected Santa’s secrets like an army of Nutcracker Soldiers. Of particular interest to SRO Raub:

• How is the Naughty/Nice list made?
• What makes Reindeer fly?
• How does Santa eat so many cookies?
• And can she meet Rudolph?

They learned Echo was on a mission from the "Big Man," so they dropped the charges and let him get back to work.

He was seen scaling the EMS Headquarters walls.

After scaling the walls of Headquarters, Echo finally brought someone in on his secret mission! EMT Shane McGowan agreed to help Echo and in return he will answer Shane’s questions about Santa’s workshop. This should be interesting...

From there, Echo started helping out, decontaminating the department's ambulance with the electrostatic sprayer between calls. "The electrostatic sprayer is one of the many tools that MEMS clinicians use to #StopTheSpread and keep our patients safe," Baran said.

But he was still prone to some mischief, making sprinkle angels after a night of drinking lots of syrup.

Then, Echo disappeared. They searched high and low, and high again, where they found he had joined up with the New Jersey State Police and the Northstar emergency flight crews for a few days.

"Echo has been hard at work with our friends from Northstar and Southstar this past week! Although Echo is partial to Santa’s sleigh, he said the helicopters are probably only a few reindeer powers away from keeping up with the Big Man’s trusted team. More to come as Echo wraps up his work this week just in time for the big day!"

Echo wound up his visit with Manchester EMS on Thursday, catching a ride back to the North Pole with a crew from RWJ Barnabas Mobile Health.

It seems likely Echo will return to Manchester next December for more shenanigans. You can follow the Manchester EMS page on Facebook to see what they're up to as they serve the citizens of Manchester.

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