Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992 TAG: 9202200510
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HE COMES TO THE RESCUE
In his midteens, Garry Lautenschlager found time for rescue squad work - and it still takes a lot of his time.He's executive director of the Western Virginia Emergency Medical Services Council and recently was elected chairman of the board of the Safety Council of Southwest Virginia.
He also is serving as chief of the Salem Rescue Squad for the fifth time.
His work with the squad began 20 years ago and he has had some official position for 19 of those years.
Lautenschlager, 37, credits the Salem Rescue Squad for starting him on the career track that landed him in his Emergency Medical Services Council job.
He has an interest in administration, and "the rescue squad gave me the opportunity to develop in that area."
Lautenschlager said the positions he has held with the rescue squad have taught him the business end of emergency rescue. He has learned about budgets, inventories, equipment purchases and maintenance, building upkeep and all other aspects of keeping the agency going.
One of the critical factors he is learning about is personnel. Getting qualified personnel is a growing problem, Lautenschlager said, especially for the volunteer agencies.
The problem is intensified because of long and tough training requirements, time pressures on families where both husband and wife hold full-time jobs and the threat of infection from a contagious disease.
"It is becoming difficult to get volunteers," he said. "Even the paid agencies are having trouble."
And for that reason, Lautenschlager sees the possibility that in the future, more emergency medical services will be provided by governments just as they provide police and fire services.
He terms the need "staggering." Nationwide, about 170,000 people a day require the services of emergency rescue agencies, he said. The Salem squad, in 1991, handled about 2,400 calls at an average cost of $175 per call.
Few people understand the need for emergency rescue services better than Lautenschlager.
\ Full name: Garrett Brian Lautenschlager, goes by Garry.
\ Family: Wife, Shirley who works at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salem and is is active in rescue squad work.
Son, Chris, who will be 4 in March, likes to go to the rescue squad building and be among the equipment. "He definitely has an interest" in rescue work.
\ Education: Andrew Lewis High School, Salem; Roanoke College, graduated cum laude in 1977.
\ Volunteer work: Salem Rescue Squad, Salem Jaycees, the Roanoke Valley Division of the American Heart Association, the Julian S. Wise Foundation, Salem Emergency Medical Services Task Force, Advisory Committee for Emergency Health Sciences Program at Community Hospital and College Lutheran Church in Salem.
\ Reason for volunteering: "My father [the late Edward W. Lautenschlager, a dean at Roanoke College] taught me that everyone should return something to the community.
\ How he got started: "A friend of mine in the high school asked me if I'd be interested in taking a first aid class with him.
"I did take the class, and it all evolved from that."
Several of other friends were junior members of the Salem Rescue Squad and through their influence he attended a meeting of the squad.
"I saw this as a way of broadening my horizons," he said. "I was not too active in other things right then."
\ Worst experience in rescue work: "In the flood of 1985, we had a report that one of our crew members had drowned and that two others were trapped in dangerous situations by high water but we had to continue our rescue operations. I am proud that despite these reports everybody continued to do their jobs."
\ Best rescue experience: "Delivering a new baby. This was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me in rescue work."
\ Awards and honors: They are numerous but some of the most outstanding include: Harold G. Moeller Award for outstanding support of a junior crew in 1977 and 1989; American Heart Association CPR instructor; coordinated that group's first "Heartsaver Saturday" with mass CPR training program certifying more than 150 students; one of first paramedics licensed in Virginia, March 1979; awarded Roanoke Jaycees' Outstanding Rescue Squad Member 1990; awarded Life Membership in Salem Rescue Squad in 1987, the highest honor the squad bestows on its members.
\ Goal: "To educate the public in ways to make the community a safer place."