Volunteer Ambulance Service Emerges In Brownsville and East New York

The East New York and Brownsville area will soon have its own ambulance service to call when there is a medical emergency. The East Brooklyn Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps also know as EBCVAC is a all volunteer ambulance service dedicated to serving the Brownsville and East New York communities.

" The wait times are too long in these communities for an ambulance, and if no one is going to doing anything about it I will" says James Pointer the corps Founder and President. The service was started back in 2015 when Pointer and a another EMT John Warwick stopped to help a person who was having seizure in the middle of the street. It took 25 minutes before a ambulance arrived on the scene for the patient. So he saw this as a problem and started the service.

Since 2015 with little resources that they had the East Brooklyn Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps have been in the community trying to make a difference. " Its hard to start a ambulance service when you have no support, no money and the Department of Health wont allow you to become a certified ambulance service unless you meet certain requirements" Pointer says " its cost $5,000 just to apply, then you must have first year operating expenses which could amount to anywhere from 70 to $85,000 at the time you submit your application".

The corps is starting from the ground zero with no resources or support. The members of the East Brooklyn Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps, with all the trials and tribulations they face remain inspired to provide the ambulance service. John Warwick the corps Co Founder and Director stated " We hold meetings on street corners because we don't have a headquarters but the members of this organization remain dedicated and excited to provide this well needed service to the community. The corps was renting a desk and chair from a used car dealership until early 2017 when the dealership abruptly went out of business leaving the corp once again without a central location. " Now we are back where we started with no headquarters, but the focus is still on providing services to these communities . . . . bottom line" says James

EBCVAC is looking to provide more than just a ride to the emergency room, the corps will be providing a variety of services to the community, the services will include youth mentoring, job retention, and disaster preparedness. "These services are essential to a community with little to no support, these communities wont have to look far to get the support and services they need". says Pointer. The services will be provided to residence of the community with no fee.

The East Brooklyn Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps is a 501 c3 Charitable Organization. For more information on the organization, to sign up to be a volunteer ,or to donate log on to www.ebcvac.org or call 917-924-2590