(Pictured above: Mary Robbenhaar-Fretz and James Fretz)

There’s a comical insurance ad on TV where homeowners are advised that they don’t need to become their parents. But try selling that to Killingworth’s Mary Robbenhaar-Fretz.

She knows better.

An EMT and member of the Killingworth Ambulance board of directors, she’s done more than follow her mother’s path most of her adult life. She traced it. Step … by step … by step.

At 30, she pursued her mother’s passion and went into nursing. Decades later she joined the ambulance association’s board. Just like her mother. Then, in 2018, she became an EMT. Just like her mother. Now she makes ambulance runs with her husband, James – Mary in the back, James at the wheel.

Just like her mother … and her Dad.

“You do kind of become your parents,” she said, laughing. “That’s frightening. But what’s really scary is when people around town – particularly the older ones – see me and call me Romanie.”

Romanie was her mother’s name. Romanie Klein-Robbenhaar. Her father was Dolph Klein-Robbenhaar. They met when Romanie was in nursing school in the Netherlands – Amsterdam, to be exact – and soon married. Emigrating to Canada when Mary’s mother was six months short of graduating, they settled in Ottawa and welcomed the first of their four children.

Her name was Mary.

Four years later, Romanie and Dolph moved again — this time to the United States. On the advice of Dolph’s brother, who lived in Killingworth, the family relocated here in 1963 – moving in with Mary’s uncle before finding a permanent home.

And that’s where our story begins.

Fast-forward to February, 1971, when Romanie and Dolph join a group of concerned residents to form the Killingworth Ambulance Association. Both become actively involved, first as board members and then as first responders — making ambulance runs together, with Dolph driving and Romanie in the back.

Sound familiar? It should.

“I have to say my Mom probably got my Dad into it,” Mary said. “He was so busy. He worked 13 hours a day, and they’d be on at night. He’d get home at 6:30, and they’d be on at 7. They were volunteers, and back then, you didn’t have to be as skilled and trained as EMTs are now.

“My Mom was definitely more into it than my Dad. She really loved the hands-on stuff. Her first run was a UPS driver who had a bee sting. That was before EpiPens, and she had to do CPR all the way to New Haven. He didn’t make it.”

Mary attended Morgan High School before moving on to Wesleyan University, where she was a political science major. She envisioned a career as a lawyer but first joined the Peace Corps, teaching children in Niger. That lasted a year. Then it was back to the United States, accompanying a boyfriend to Indiana where she was a youth program director at the local YMCA. Eventually, she found herself back in Killingworth, this time certain what she would pursue next.

Nursing.

“When I was in the Peace Corps,” she said, “I wrote an essay to get into Yale (School of Nursing). I was supposed to teach English in Niger. They were French-speaking kids, who spoke the local language. But they didn’t need to learn English. They needed to learn about good health care and nutrition. That’s when I decided come back and go into nursing.”

So she did. She gained an associate degree from Quinnipiac’s School of Nursing, then spent 10 years at Yale Hospital as a pediatric RN while working toward a master’s in nursing.

“My Mom was thrilled that I was a nurse,” Mary said. “It sort of fulfilled her dream.”

Three years after Romanie passed away in 2013, Mary joined the KAA board of directors. Two years later, she decided to become an EMT, like her mother and father. So she took the 160-hour course, passed the exam and was certified to do what her mother had done decades earlier.

“For the longest time,” Mary said, “I wanted to volunteer and give back. Then, when I retired in 2018, I thought: Now I have time to devote to this. Really, it was in memory of Mom. The organization meant a lot to her. If my Mom hadn’t been involved with it, I don’t know if I would.”

But she is.

So is husband James Fretz, a self-employed cabinet maker and architectural wood worker. He joined the board with Mary in 2016 and took the EMT course four years later during the COVID pandemic. Like his wife, he passed the exam, and now the two are on call for the KAA from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I probably influenced him,” Mary said, “but I didn’t really push it. I think he just kind of observed and knew we needed people. I said, ‘I just need a driver. If you would drive, it would make me so happy.’ So he took the course.”

He did more than that.

When the Killingworth Ambulance Association last fall celebrated its 50^th anniversary, it recognized the top three responders from 2020-21. Board president Dan O’Sullivan and EMT Lisa Anderson were two of them. James Fretz was the third, remarkable in that he wasn’t EMT certified until December, 2020.

“James has been an amazing addition to the KAA,” said O’ Sullivan. “Not only does he cover two days a week with his wife, but he is frequently found on late night calls or on other days when needed to complete a crew. He is a critical part of our team in delivering EMS service to the town.”

Husband-and-wife teams aren’t unusual at the KAA. Mike and Marguerite Haaga are EMTs who serve on the KAA’s board of directors – Mike as the chief of service; Marguerite as the vice-president. Board member Mark Clifton and wife Patty are EMTs, too. But a husband-and-wife team that followed every step – literally – of a mother and father? Rare, though Todd and Lara Hajek are close. Todd’s mother, Irene, is a former EMT and past president and vice president of the KAA board.

“I got involved because of Irene,” said Lara Hajek, an EMT whose brother, father and brother-in-law are – what else? — EMTs.

So forget that TV commercial. Like it or not, we do become our parents. Mary Robbenhaar-Fretz is proof.

“It’s kind of funny,” she said. “When you’re growing up, it’s the last thing you’re going to do, right?”

Apparently not.

The Killingworth Ambulance Association last year responded to 496 emergency calls, and if that seems like a lot it’s because it is.

It’s a one-year record.

According to figures kept by the KAA, the 496 responses are a 34 percent increase over the 370 of 2020 and a 40 percent jump from the 350 of 2019. Included were 138 fourth-quarter calls in 2021, a 36.6 percent increase from the 101 in 2020.

“It’s far and away the most we’ve ever had,” said chief of service Mike Haaga.

The ready explanation, it would seem, would be COVID, especially with the recent surge of the Omicron variant. But that’s not the case. In fact, most responses weren’t for persons complaining of COVID-like symptoms.

They were for victims of falls.

Sound familiar? It should. Most calls the past two years have been for falls. This time, however, the number increased significantly. Where there were 71 in 2020 and 75 the year before, that number vaulted to 117 in 2021 — or 23.6 percent of all calls for 2021 and nearly double anything else.

That’s consistent with figures from 2020, where falls comprised 19.2 percent of all responses and were more than double the figure for breathing problems, which was second at 9.2. It’s also consistent with nationwide figures. According to the National Floor Safety Institute, falls are the leading cause of emergency-room visits, accounting for over 8 million annually.

Want more? What follows are the five leading responses for KAA emergency service in 2021:

1. Falls – 117 (23.6 percent)
2. Sickness – 61 (12.3 percent).
3. Breathing problems – 36 (7.3 percent)
4. Chest Pain – 26 (5.2 percent)
5. Altered mental status – 25 (5.0 percent)

Of interest here is that where overall figures increased … and, in some cases, significantly … the number of responses for traffic accidents did not. The KAA responded to 24 in 2020 (6.8 percent), which ranked fifth. It responded to another 24 last year (4.8), which ranked sixth.

“I’m proud of the fact that we’re able to cover all these calls on a completely volunteer basis,” said Haaga. “We’re one of the few ambulance services around here that is completely volunteer. Just about all of the others have some period of time where they pay crews to cover.”

The KAA has 26 EMTs and two EMRs.

Remarkably, the KAA completed its record year with its ambulance out of service for a week due to repairs. Fortunately, the Clinton Volunteer Fire Company came to the rescue. Three times in the past two years it loaned the KAA a vehicle while the Killingworth ambulance was serviced.

“For a small volunteer service like ours, covering this large number of calls — and sharp increase in the number of calls — is a real tribute to all the responding EMTs,” said KAA president Dan O’Sullivan. “It is even more impressive when you factor in the risk to them, never knowing if the patient might also have COVID. I thank all the responders and their families for providing this critical service to the community.”

For the second time in the past six months, the Killingworth Ambulance Association has been forced to cancel its EMT classes. The course was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, Jan. 11, but after careful consideration the KAA’s chief of service, Mike Haaga, decided to shut it down.

The reason: Simple. Not enough students.

”Only two people,” said Haaga, who teaches the course with wife Marguerite, the KAA’s vice president. “I really wanted to run the class, and I thought about it all day (Thursday), but it’s such a time commitment for two people.”

According to Haaga, communications with a Connecticut state official indicated that attendance for recent EMT classes state-wide has declined substantially.

“Probably has to do with COVID,” Haaga said.

The KAA had hoped to initiate its annual fall course on Sept. 2, 2021, but cancelled that instruction due to a lack of participants. That marked the third consecutive autumn the KAA had to move or cancel its EMT course. In 2019, it was moved to January, 2020, because of insufficient enrollment. One year later, it was shut down because of the COVID pandemic. Then it was cancelled again last fall.

“Very disappointing,” said Haaga.

The last time a course was completed was in 2020, and that was a success. Ten students participated, with ten completing the course – including one remotely from Idaho – and six joining the KAA. Courses historically last three-and-a-half months, with classes held Tuesday and Thursday evenings, as well as five Saturdays.

No date has been set for future instruction.

“We’ll shoot for another fall class,” said Haaga.

When the Killingworth Ambulance Association responded to a call last month, people at the scene were confused. The vehicle that showed up wasn’t Killingworth’s customary red box ambulance. It was white. And it didn’t read “Killingworth.” It read “Clinton.”

“I thought Killingworth was coming here,” someone said.

“We are Killingworth,” said EMT James Fretz, who drove the truck.

The confusion was understandable. For the third time in the past two years, the Killingworth Ambulance Association had to borrow a vehicle. And for the third time in two years, it borrowed it from the Clinton Volunteer Fire Department.

The reason: Killingworth’s ambulance was sent to Eastford Fire and Rescue to repair a malfunction with its rear air-bag suspension, and the date of its return was uncertain. In need of a replacement, the KAA turned to a familiar ally for help.

Clinton responded by sending Ambulance No. 942 to Killingworth on Sept. 20. It wasn’t returned until Tuesday … or six weeks later.

“We’re more than happy to help,” said Jason Lewellyn, Clinton’s Deputy Chief of EMS. “Our third (ambulance) is used in the case of extreme emergencies. Our call volume justified our lending it out because it really doesn’t hurt us. More importantly, we have such a good relationship with our neighboring towns. For the residents of Killingworth and our town, being able to respond in your own town is always beneficial.”

That makes sense, especially with the volume of calls the KAA experienced the past year. From October, 2020 through September of this year, it answered 459 – a 21 percent jump from the previous year (379). Then it responded to 49 in October with the Clinton loaner.

“The members of our department always want to help,” said Lewellyn. “We hope that if it were our time of need, we’d be able to reach out to (the KAA). I think of it is as a mutual relationship.”

That’s because it is. Clinton and Killingworth are members of the Valley Shore Mutual Aid Association, each willing to cover for the other if it is unable to assemble a crew for an emergency. But Clinton takes it a step farther: It covers for Killingworth if it’s missing an ambulance — a practice that, according to Killingworth’s Chief of Service Mike Haaga, has been going on since he and John Battista, Llewellyn’s predecessor in Clinton, had a conversation approximately 10 years ago.

Neither is sure when or where it was, but each remembered what was said.

“I told him, ‘We’re having trouble with our ambulance,’ “ Haaga said, “and he said, ‘I’ve got three. I’ll give you one.’ “

So he did. And so Clinton has ever since.

“To be brutally blunt,” said Battista, “we never considered it an inconvenience at all. We considered it all a part of our Mutual Aid agreement. When we had an available automobjle, it made sense to have it in Killingworth, manned by Killingworth people. That’s how the system works. They would do the exact same thing for us.

“It does not seem to be a favor or anything like that to us. It’s just the way it is. I’ve been in the department 50 years, and it’s been like that from Day One. It’s not something we do to draw attention to ourselves. It’s just the way it’s done. It’s who we are. It’s the same way with Killingworth. Killingworth has always been there for us, and it always will be there for us.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: To access the video, click on the following attachment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfOKm575ST8)

When the Killingworth Ambulance Association celebrated its 50^th anniversary Sunday at Deer Lake, it concluded the event with a 15-minute video chronicling the group’s history. Afterward, the committee that produced it was congratulated, the room was cleared and everyone went home.

But wait. We’re not finished. The credits haven’t rolled. We must thank those most responsible.

Without the help of Haddam-Killingworth High School, the video might not – no, would not – have been possible. Which is why the Killingworth Ambulance Association applauds and salutes one HKHS group in particular for its work in assembling a piece of Killingworth history and bringing it to Sunday’s celebration.

Would the members of Kasha Topa-Finberg’s Event Broadcasting class please step forward? Because without them, there would be no documentary.

As it turns out, they were ideal partners. Like the concerned citizens who organized the KAA 50 years ago, they volunteered their services.  And, like the individuals portrayed in the video, they were professional, accountable and successful.

Senior Shelby Welsch and junior Logan DiCicco were the most responsible, each instructed to collaborate with the Ambulance Association on the project. Welsch would film it. DiCicco would edit it. And Ms. Topa-Finberg would oversee it.

“Working on the KAA project was an amazing opportunity for Shelby and Logan,” said Topa-Finberg. “Not only were they able to exercise their communications and technical skills, but they were involved in working with the community. They worked extremely hard on a turnaround project and created a finished, real-world product that made us proud.”

Result? See for yourself. By clicking on the following attachment, you can watch what they produced and understand why their assistance was so invaluable and why the KAA is indebted to them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfOKm575ST8

The Killingworth Ambulance Association held its annual banquet Sunday night, and nothing new there. It holds one every October. Except this was unlike anything before, mostly because of what it celebrated.

Its 50^th anniversary.

The Killingworth Ambulance Association began in February, 1971, when a group of concerned citizens met at the local elementary school to form an emergency response team of volunteers. Fifty years later, at least three of those persons – including the KAA’s first president, Charlie Smith – took part in three hours of dinner, awards and speeches that commemorated the historic occasion at Deer Lake.

There were proclamations from Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz. First Selectwoman Cathy Iino was there. So was a trove of past and present EMTs and board members, some dressed in KAA uniforms. There was live music (Foxtrotter), a pizza truck (Grand Apizza in Madison), beverage truck (The Bar Cart CT, LLC), hors d’oeuvres, desserts (the Sweet Baker) and a 15-minute video documenting the history of the KAA, as told by those who were there.

What’s more, the celebration was staged inside Deer Lake’s post-and-beam dining hall, a 5,000-square foot structure that more than accommodated the 70-80 persons who attended. Ironically, it was Deer Lake that once was the site of combined picnics for the KAA and Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company nearly three decades ago.

“Everything was top-notch,” Smith said of Sunday’s event. “It recognized those people who should be recognized for all of their years of service — including the numbers of runs they make over the course of a year, as well as the other nameless duties they do that no one is aware of. “

Front and center was Don McDougall, who first volunteered for the KAA in 1971 and who, at the age of 87, is still an active board member. Joined by his wife and 12 children and grandchildren, he was the recipient of state proclamations read by Iino, gifts from the KAA, a congratulatory cake (vanilla, McDougall’s favorite, with butter cream frosting) and a standing ovation from all those in attendance.

“Fifty years,” said the KAA’s Chief of Service Mike Haaga, “and to be still active at his age? Amazing. It’s great he has such a dedication to the town that he does.”

After he was honored, McDougall was approached by Smith.

“Fifty years,” Smith said. “That’s remarkable.”

McDougall bowed his head, then started to laugh.

“It was easy,” he said. “But the next 50 might be hard.”

Among others recognized Sunday were EMTs James Fretz, Dan O’Sullivan and Lisa Anderson, the top three responders from October, 2020-September, 2021. Fretz answered the most calls, with over 130 of the 459 responses, followed by O’Sullivan and Anderson, in that order.

That, too, was exceptional: First of all, because Anderson answered the most calls the past two years, including an astounding 207 in 2019-20; and, second, because Fretz is a first-year EMT, certified in August, 2020.

“How unusual is that?” Haaga said of Fretz. “I’ve had others in their first years finish in the top three. But first? I can’t remember it happening before.”

Fretz and wife Mary Robbenhaar-Fretz, who became an EMT in 2019, are members of the KAA’s board of directors and often respond to emergencies together.  The two are on call from Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. but sometimes respond when others are unavailable.

In short, they’re everything the KAA was meant to be when it was formed. Considering the persons involved, that’s no surprise: Mary’s mother and father were EMTs, as well as members of the board of directors, who answered calls as a team one to two nights a week.

“James is amazingly dedicated,” said O’Sullivan, the KAA’s president. “In addition to covering two days a week with Mary, he often is filling in to make a complete crew on all other days of the week and all hours of the day. He is critical to our great response percentage, especially in light of the increasing load of calls we’re responding to.”

According to O’Sullivan, responses jumped from 379 in 2019-20 to 459 in 2020-21, an increase of 21 percent in one year. Fifty years ago, there were fewer than 50.

“This,” said Smith, surveying Sunday night’s crowd, “is a good example of people in the community pulling for each other to make something last because it’s worthwhile. And that’s something you think about when you’re doing the planning.

“But you don’t think about it 50 years from now. You just think about the next day. First, it’s buying that Cadillac (to become the first ambulance). And the next day it’s making sure all our drivers are EMS certified. And the day after that it’s putting up the building. And the next step after that is to make sure professionalism is carried through generation after generation. It’s a lot like raising child.”

But this child is so grown up that, 50 years later, Killingworth literally can’t live without it.

“There were lulls in staffing,” Smiths said in the video that ended the evening, “and there were lulls in funding at certain points. But we recovered. And look where we are now, baby.”

Due to a shortage of applicants, the Killingworth Ambulance Association has been forced to reschedule its fall EMT classes from this month to January.

It marks the third straight autumn that EMT classes had to be moved or canceled. Three years ago, it was moved from September to January because of insufficient enrollment. A year ago it was cancelled because of the COVID pandemic.

Now this.

Originally, the classes were to begin Sept. 2 but had to be canceled when they couldn’t be filled. Now, according to preliminary plans, the course is scheduled to start Jan. 11, with classes every Tuesday and Thursday from 6-10 p.m. and five Saturdays from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. It is expected to conclude in May, though no specific date has been set.

Classes are open to all persons who turn 16 by the last class.

As has been the case in years past, the course will be taught by Mike and Marguerite Haaga. Marguerite is vice president of the KAA’s board of directors. Mike is the Chief of Service. Both are EMTs.

Despite atypical circumstances that included masks, social distancing and one student who attended classes via Zoom from Idaho, the last course was a success. Ten individuals participated, with eight becoming certified EMTs and six joining the Killingworth Ambulance Association.

The course is worth six college credits and highly recommended for persons interested in pursuing courses in medical fields.  For more information, please contact the KAA at (860) 663-2450.

(Pictured above: L-R, KAA board officers and EMTs Mike Haaga, Marguerite Haaga and Dan O’Sullivan)

Nobody is exactly sure when the Killingworth Ambulance Association began, but all who were in on the ground floor agree it was sometime in 1971. What they can’t ascertain, however, is what provoked its formation – though one of its founders tried.

“Charlie Grace,” said Charlie Smith, the KAA’s first president.

Excuse me?

“He lived on (Route) 148,” said Smith, “and was susceptible to nose bleeds. He kept calling Clinton (ambulance), and one time when they took him to the hospital he nearly bled out. So that was the incentive.”

That was 50 years ago when Nixon was president, a gallon of gas cost 36 cents, Archie Bunker ruled TV … and the KAA took shape. Responders were volunteers who weren’t EMT-or-MRT trained. There were no masks. There were no gowns. There were no gloves. There were no uniforms because there was no money.

The ambulance was a used red-and-white Cadillac. Board meetings were at the old Center School off the town circle. And calls were limited to emergencies only.

“Times were different then,” said Dan Perkins, another founding father.

How much different? We asked a handful of the KAA’s original members as the group prepares to celebrate its 50^th anniversary. This is their story.

IN THE BEGINNING …

Prior to 1971, there was no KAA. Ambulance calls for Killingworth were handled by neighboring towns, depending on where you lived. If it was south Killingworth, Clinton responded. If it was north Killingworth, Durham took the call. Madison handled west Killingworth, Westbrook the east and a private firm out of Middletown took whatever fell its way.

“So service was spotty,” said Smith.

That’s an understatement. There were fewer than 100 calls per year – sometimes more like 40-50 — for a town of 2,500, with the majority taken by Clinton.

Which is where Charlie Grace comes in.

“The need was there,” said Smith. “The most important thing was a motivator.”

So a handful of town residents, led by Walter Albrecht, got together and decided to do something about it. They pushed for a volunteer ambulance association, called an informal town meeting where the group was approved and adopted the Westbrook system of an individual, non-political organization. Soon, Smith and Perkins said, the group had an estimated 25 volunteers – most of them married couples — on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

One was Don McDougall, an active member of the KAA’s board of directors today at 87.

“Someone came to my door and asked if I’d like to join,” he said. “So I did.”

In fact, he answered the KAA’s third ambulance call. Like others, he wasn’t EMT-trained. That wasn’t required. CPR and first-aid were, and McDougall got instruction in both in one weekend with the Westbrook Ambulance. Four years later, he gained EMT certification by taking 80 hours of classes at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown.

Today, aspiring techs are required to take 150.

“You didn’t have to have the same credentials then as you do now,” said Perkins.

And so the KAA was born, with volunteers ready to take 12-hour shifts scheduled by Albrecht. Responders were alerted at home by telephone, and they were required to find replacements if unable to commit to scheduled shifts. But before they could launch, one piece was missing.

An ambulance.

DEALS ON WHEELS

This is where Albrecht comes in, persuading local resident and philanthropist Marion Platt to donate $3,000 toward the purchase of a vehicle. It was a 1964 used Cadillac with 13,000 miles on it, purchased from a dealer in Fairfield County. But it wasn’t a sedan. It was an ambulance that looked more like a hearse, and there was a reason: Because it was.

Honest.

“We had just opened an account at the Clinton National Bank,” said Smith, who joined Albrecht and KAA member Hap Gaylord to close the deal. “But we had no money in the account. I remember when we made the down payment. We told them not to cash the check.”

That’s when Platt came to the rescue.

By the end of its first year of operation, the KAA had $7,000 in donations and an ambulance. But where to put the transport? There was a gas station in town off Route 80 – Saglio’s garage, site of today’s Dance Corner – that no longer was in business, and owner John Saglio offered it to the KAA free of charge for as long as needed.

From there, the ambulance moved to the Center School and, later, the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company’s headquarters, built in 1971 next to Town Hall.

“But did you know about the gas?” asked Smith.

Uh, no.

“After each run, we were required to leave the ambulance with a full tank,” he said. “We needed gas, not diesel, and thanks to Louise Burghardt – who had a filling station on Route 80 – we got fill-ups after each trip, regardless what time it was … even if it was 3 in the morning.

“Now, remember: This was before cell phones, and she lived above the gas station. So how did we communicate with her? We must have had to call dispatch – which was in Clinton – and asked them to wake her up to open up the pumps. She always did.”

FIRST RESPONDERS WITH FIRST RESPONSES

Calls could be as eventful as they were sporadic. In the winter, driveways sometimes were so deep in snow that first responders had to wait for plows to arrive. Once the KAA answered a call of a burning house on Route 81 near the Higganum border … and wound up rescuing a pig from a smoldering lean-to. Then there was Smith’s first call as a responder.

It never happened.

Rushing to Saglio’s garage, he and his partner found the ambulance missing. It turns out that a board member had taken it without notifying anyone to rush his grandchild, injured in a vehicle mishap, to the hospital.

“So,” Smith said, “it was a non-call.”

But that wasn’t his most indelible memory. Transporting a pregnant woman was, a story chronicled in 1974 by local resident David Sturges in the book “Tales of Killingworth: You Can Get There From Here.” Appropriately, the chapter was entitled “The Anxious Patient and the Indisposed Attendant.”

By this time, the KAA had moved on to a second ambulance, a lime-green 1974 Cadillac, and it was first on the scene. So was Smith. The two were summoned in the middle of the night to the newly constructed Middlesex Hospital clinic in Essex, where the patient – late in her pregnancy – had gone, complaining of leg pains.

“The doctor who evaluated her thought she should go to a hospital,” said Smith, “but he recommended she not be transported by car. So he called for an ambulance. She wanted her leg to be level with her heart because the doctor suspected a blood clot, and one of the treatments is to keep the patient flat on her back.”

So the patient was loaded, and the ambulance sped off to Middlesex Hospital where, Smith said, the KAA took “80 percent of our transports.” One problem: It was the wrong destination. The patient’s physician was at Yale-New Haven. So the ambulance immediately exited Route 9, changed direction and headed west.

“One thing after another was happening,” said Smith. “I was in the back of the ambulance, and on the way my stomach started feeling sick. I wound up throwing up my dinner in one of the pails in the back of the ambulance which was for patient use, not for the driver or attendant. And then she was not in any distress; she just had this pain in her leg and was quite sympathetic to my moment of distress.”

Bottom line: The patient didn’t deliver … not until weeks later … but comforted Smith instead.

“We had quite a chat all the way back,” he said, “and she made me feel better. Our roles got reversed.”

FINDING A HOME

By 1981, the KAA’s board of directors resolved to have its own headquarters. In the late 1970s it was holding meetings at the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company, though they sometimes moved to homes of board members or the front room of Town Hall.

But all that changed in 1982. The association signed a 25-year lease on a two-acre parcel from the town at $1 year, which is the current rate, and began construction on a two-story building. Money was tight, and so was the KAA’s budget. It held the figure at $50,000 and set an “anticipated” deadline for completion at February, 1983.

It met both.

How? With a remarkable grass-roots effort that featured volunteer work and donations of materials. Architect Arlene Tunney agreed to work for free. Local electricians, masons, carpenters – basically, an assortment of tradespeople –volunteered their time and services. Former board member Jim Lally of Schumack Engineered Construction would oversee the project and do the excavating.

He volunteered, too.

“Everywhere you turned,” said Lally, “somebody was doing something. There was a lot of sweat equity.”

Finding Tunney was a coup. She was an award-winning local architect and friend of Lally and then-KAA president Don Henson. When they mentioned something to her about hiring an architect, Tunney told them she had an idea.

“I said I’d do it for free, which they liked,” said Tunney, who now splits her time between Chester and Block Island while maintaining her firm, Tunney Associates. “I lived in town, and it just made sense to do it. In reality, I got other work out of it, too. People saw it and thought it was a nice building.”

It was. It still is.

In fact, it won an award from the American Wood Council and was pictured on the cover of an architectural construction magazine. The building, which Tunney admitted “was kind of ahead of its time,” incorporated “a passive solar system” that included a slate floor in a sun space, walls that retained heat and one bay for an ambulance.

A second bay was added in 2002 to accommodate a bigger, box-style Ford ambulance acquired the previous December.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Tunney. “Jim Lally was incredible. He gave me my lead and said, ‘We can do this, and we can do that.’ He and Don Henson were a delight to work with.”

By 1982, the KAA was handling an estimated 150 calls annually. Funding was still a concern, but with the help of a building fund campaign, $23,000 had been donated by early December, 1981.

Nevertheless, more was needed. As an incentive, the KAA offered townspeople a sweetheart deal: Members who donated $15-20 annually qualified for free emergency transportation – as did their families and house guests.

The inducement worked. When the building was completed, the KAA met all its expenses.

“We didn’t raise all the money in the beginning,” said Lally, “but we were close. The trick was to keep it going, and we thought as people saw the building coming to fruition they would jump aboard. And that’s what worked out.”

TURNING 50

Today, the KAA is firmly entrenched, with an operating budget of $167,150 for the 2021-22 fiscal year. Not included is the possible acquisition of a new, fully-outfitted ambulance at an estimated cost of $400,000, a vehicle that would replace the current box-style Dodge ambulance, purchased in 2011 for over $200,000.

In all, there have been seven ambulances, including a 1978 box van purchased new for $34,556, and a box-style ambulance acquired in 1991 for $65,300. When the latter vehicle was retired, it was donated to an ambulance squad in Mariaville, Me., a rural town of 414, through a contact made by the KAA’s McDougall.

“They needed an ambulance,” he said, “so I brought it up to the board, and they OK’d it.”

The KAA currently includes 27 technicians (all volunteers), offers CPR, EMT and “Stop the Bleed” classes, last year answered an estimated 350 calls and received $35,050 in annual donations in 2020-21. It is a vital and necessary service of the town that created it, but history tells us it’s much more than that. It is the embodiment of a can-do spirit that defines Killingworth as a community.

Within a year of its creation, for instance, the Frackelton Fund — named in memory a local resident who died — donated money to fully equip the first ambulance, including stretchers, medical supplies and orthopedic equipment. In 1976 a local actors’ group contributed $7,155 to cover the cost of a new cardiac monitor. Then there was the construction of the KAA’s headquarters.

“When I see this building,” Smith said on a recent visit, “it’s not a proud moment. It’s more of a lucky moment that a small town had volunteers who, frankly, sacrificed a lot in the early 1970s to make some of these organizations grow strong.”

Dan Perkins was one of those volunteers, and he nodded as Smith spoke.

“I’m grateful,” he said. “We started with nothing, and it turned out pretty well.”

Most people don’t remember where they were or what they were doing 50 years ago this weekend.

Don McDougall is not most people.

Ask him what happened on July 17, 1971, and he’s ready with a response: He answered his first call for the Killingworth Ambulance Association, transporting a patient who’d been stung by a bee to a nearby Middlesex Hospital clinic.

So why is that noteworthy? Because 50 years later, Don McDougall – now 87 — is still connected with the KAA. He serves on its board of directors.

“Fifty years?” said an incredulous Charlie Smith, first president of the KAA. “That’s got to be some kind of record for continuous and faithful service.”

Maybe. Probably. Nobody is sure. It doesn’t matter to the taciturn McDougall, who’s spent much of his life volunteering in Killingworth. He’s been on the KAA board of directors for three decades and didn’t quit serving as an EMT until he turned 80.

“Time flies,” he said. “I don’t even think about it.”

Until, that is, you ask him about his first ambulance experience. Then it all comes back in detail. After taking a phone call from the Clinton dispatch, he jumped into his tan ’64 Plymouth Valiant and rushed to pick up the KAA ambulance – a used 1964 Cadillac bought earlier that year in Greenwich for $3,000.

Then it was off to Stevens Road, home of the victim, where he was joined by attendant Romanie Klein-Robbenhaar. Together they loaded the patient on to a stretcher and hoisted her into the back of the ambulance. Then they drove away, with McDougall at the wheel.

“The big thing I remember that day,” he said, “is the kids crying when we put their mother in the ambulance.”

There were three of them. Two girls, ages 5 and 6, and a small boy who was 3-1/2.

“I guess they were scared,” said Sue Browne.

She would know. She’s their mother. She was also the patient, summoning the ambulance after experiencing an adverse reaction to a bee sting. First, she said, she started itching. Then she broke out in hives. Soon, she became disoriented and had to sit down, settling into a recliner when the ambulance was called.

“It was unusual,” she said. “I was kinda out of it. I didn’t realize how serious things were.”

Nevertheless, she remembers the ambulance arriving … and a stretcher transporting her from her house … the kids outside … the ride to the clinic … and her release roughly one hour later after she was treated and cleared by physicians.

Like McDougall, she cannot forget.

“It’s a blessing that the ambulance showed up,” she said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made it. They saved my life, and I’m very grateful.”

Today, she and McDougall’s wife, Marion, are what Browne calls “the best of friends.” The two get together on Mondays to play cards, join in Scrabble or work on crafts, and for years their husbands regularly joined them for Saturday dinners following church.

Then COVID hit. That marked one of the few interruptions in McDougall’s last 50 years.

A mechanic who in 1971 worked nights at Pratt and Whitney, he joined the KAA after answering a knock one afternoon on his front door. Standing in front of him was Marge Gaylord, a board member of the newly formed ambulance association.

“She asked if I could help out with the ambulance,” McDougall said. “They were looking for somebody during the day, and I said, ‘OK.’ There was a need at the time, and I felt I could help with that need. I never really thought about how long I’d be doing it. I just did it.”

Which pretty much sums up McDougall’s adult life.

He worked 30 years at Pratt and Whitney, becoming the maintenance supervisor before leaving at the age of 58. “Looking for something to do,” as he put it, he took an income tax course at H&R Block and became a part-time accountant. He did that for 25 years. He was an assistant scout leader with the Boy Scouts. He hiked the 273-mile Long Trail, running the length of Vermont. He did it three times. He just returned from his second camping trip this summer. He’s the town’s Emergency Operations Manager, working with the Emergency Operations office the past 25 years. He volunteers with CERT (Community Emergency Response Team). Now he observes his silver anniversary with the KAA.

In short, Don McDougall has never stopped.

“I can tell you why I do a lot of this,” he said. “I had a friend that retired, and all he did was go to the refrigerator and get a beer, sit down and watch TV and then go out and pick up the mail. He did that for a couple or three years, and he died. He didn’t do anything. When I retired, I just couldn’t sit around do nothing. I had to do something.”

He’s still doing it.

“Why?” he said. “Because I can, I guess. If you can’t do anything, what are you living for?”