June 20, 2025 • 6 mins
Jennifer Whitehurst, volunteer EMT and board member with Plymouth Volunteer Ambulance Corps, joins us live at the Travelers Championship. As part of a dedicated, all-volunteer team, Jennifer helps provide emergency medical services not just to Plymouth but also to surrounding towns through mutual aid.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm Alison Demurz.
I'm at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell alongside my guest
is Jennifer Whitehurst. She is a volunteer EMT and p
VAC board member for the Plymouth of Volunteer Ambulance CORE.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
When we say p VAC, that's what we'll be referring to.
How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm doing great?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thank you great, you bet, thank you so much for
being here. So you're a volunteer AMT and a board member.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
You look like you could be on the cover of
a magazine.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Ah, you're very sweet to say that.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Really, what's it like being a volunteer AMT.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Amazing.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
It's just so nice to be able to help out
your fellow residents, to see people at their worst and
to comfort them.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yes, I had something at my home once and they
came in and I felt like it was an episode
of ER. I was like, these guys came in the
house like Captain America.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
They were amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I hope everything turned out it did.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I mean our ambulances, if you want to think about it,
they're rolling er departments and you know we are.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Lucky to be in a small town. Our response time
is usually.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Ten minutes, so we're very lucky we can get to
people right away and get them the treatment that they need.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
We're very lucky that we have you because I live
in Thomas and I was saying to you off here,
so I love that we have you. For people who
don't know about the Plymouth Volunteer Ambulance CORE, tell me
all about it.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Okay, Well, we're not just helping our patients on the
calls from dispatch in our town. We're also doing mutual
aid for several towns around us, your town in particular, Thomaston.
We are partners with Bristol and we do community events
(01:57):
when there aren't any emergency calls. We do help out
at the schools. We do training, hands on CPR classes.
We have just recently, in the past two years, opened
up our own trainee center in our facility. Our chief,
his name is Jim Debowski. He's been doing a wonderful job.
(02:18):
He's been a teacher for over thirty years, and he
decided to bring it home and to do it in
our facility.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And you're completely volunteer run.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We are, so you would I'm assuming rely solely on donations.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
We do.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Donations are huge. We are a nonprofit and we do
not rely on taxpayer dollars to operate our facility. So
you know, whatever we can get for the calls, it's
a little more cost effective for us to do our calls.
We do run on a very thin budget, but we
(02:58):
are always looking to update our equipment to make sure
that everyone's trained properly and so.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We can do the very best job that we can
for our citizens.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
So you're a part of Bertie's for Charity where for
every dollar you raise, Webster Bank will give fifteen cents.
So if people go to pevacp VAC one one one
dot com they could make a donation, or they could
go to Travelers Championship dot com and even after this
that they can continue to donate.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yes, we've been so this is the third year we've
been fundraising with Bertie's for Charities. My actual day job,
I am a Traveler's employee and I know about it,
and I brought it to our board once I became
a member, and it's really been great for us. It's
we've been able to combine it with our annual letter
campaign and it's really helped us out tremendously to purchase
(03:56):
the new equipment and to keep our wheels rolling twenty
four to seven.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Tell me what kind of impact have you seen from
the community who have received your services.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
They must be extremely grateful, like I am.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
They are. It's just it's amazing. We get letters from our.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Patients, you know, sometimes it's people that we know in
the community. We do do some free you know, we
have some unfortunately some frequent flyers, right, people that we
do see a lot, and you know, we can keep
up with how they're.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Doing, and it's just been great to kind of make
a connection with our town folk.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
If someone would like to do the training or become
an EMT, would they go through you?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You could.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
You can go to our website. We do have our
fall classes posted and we do now so we are
a little bit more affordable than some other agencies would be.
And if we would love for you to come in
and volunteer, you don't have to be from our town.
We do have kids coming in from different colleges that
(05:08):
it's really been giving them an opportunity. They're interested in
medicine and they can get their first attempt at working
with patients and seeing what it looks like on the
inside of an emergency room. And hopefully we've groomed them
well and they go on to do good things in
(05:30):
the medical field. Oh.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I believe they will. Absolutely, it's amazing. I'm speaking with
Jennifer Whitehurst, volunteer AMT and p VAC board member for
the Plymouth Volunteer Ambulance Core again their website p VAC
one one one dot com or go to Travelers Championship
dot com Again. For every dollar day raise, they're going
to get fifteen cents from Webster Bank. Jennifer, thank you
(05:54):
so much for being here today and for serving the community.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Thank you so much for the opportunity
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm Alison Demurz.
I'm at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell alongside my guest
is Jennifer Whitehurst. She is a volunteer EMT and p
VAC board member for the Plymouth of Volunteer Ambulance CORE.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
When we say p VAC, that's what we'll be referring to.
How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
I'm doing great?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thank you great, you bet, thank you so much for
being here. So you're a volunteer AMT and a board member.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
You look like you could be on the cover of
a magazine.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Ah, you're very sweet to say that.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Really, what's it like being a volunteer AMT.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Amazing.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
It's just so nice to be able to help out
your fellow residents, to see people at their worst and
to comfort them.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yes, I had something at my home once and they
came in and I felt like it was an episode
of ER. I was like, these guys came in the
house like Captain America.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
They were amazing.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I hope everything turned out it did.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I mean our ambulances, if you want to think about it,
they're rolling er departments and you know we are.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Lucky to be in a small town. Our response time
is usually.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Ten minutes, so we're very lucky we can get to
people right away and get them the treatment that they need.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
We're very lucky that we have you because I live
in Thomas and I was saying to you off here,
so I love that we have you. For people who
don't know about the Plymouth Volunteer Ambulance CORE, tell me
all about it.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Okay, Well, we're not just helping our patients on the
calls from dispatch in our town. We're also doing mutual
aid for several towns around us, your town in particular, Thomaston.
We are partners with Bristol and we do community events
(01:57):
when there aren't any emergency calls. We do help out
at the schools. We do training, hands on CPR classes.
We have just recently, in the past two years, opened
up our own trainee center in our facility. Our chief,
his name is Jim Debowski. He's been doing a wonderful job.
(02:18):
He's been a teacher for over thirty years, and he
decided to bring it home and to do it in
our facility.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
And you're completely volunteer run.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
We are, so you would I'm assuming rely solely on donations.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
We do.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Donations are huge. We are a nonprofit and we do
not rely on taxpayer dollars to operate our facility. So
you know, whatever we can get for the calls, it's
a little more cost effective for us to do our calls.
We do run on a very thin budget, but we
(02:58):
are always looking to update our equipment to make sure
that everyone's trained properly and so.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We can do the very best job that we can
for our citizens.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
So you're a part of Bertie's for Charity where for
every dollar you raise, Webster Bank will give fifteen cents.
So if people go to pevacp VAC one one one
dot com they could make a donation, or they could
go to Travelers Championship dot com and even after this
that they can continue to donate.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Yes, we've been so this is the third year we've
been fundraising with Bertie's for Charities. My actual day job,
I am a Traveler's employee and I know about it,
and I brought it to our board once I became
a member, and it's really been great for us. It's
we've been able to combine it with our annual letter
campaign and it's really helped us out tremendously to purchase
(03:56):
the new equipment and to keep our wheels rolling twenty
four to seven.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Tell me what kind of impact have you seen from
the community who have received your services.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
They must be extremely grateful, like I am.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
They are. It's just it's amazing. We get letters from our.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Patients, you know, sometimes it's people that we know in
the community. We do do some free you know, we
have some unfortunately some frequent flyers, right, people that we
do see a lot, and you know, we can keep
up with how they're.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Doing, and it's just been great to kind of make
a connection with our town folk.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
If someone would like to do the training or become
an EMT, would they go through you?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
You could.
Speaker 4 (04:45):
You can go to our website. We do have our
fall classes posted and we do now so we are
a little bit more affordable than some other agencies would be.
And if we would love for you to come in
and volunteer, you don't have to be from our town.
We do have kids coming in from different colleges that
(05:08):
it's really been giving them an opportunity. They're interested in
medicine and they can get their first attempt at working
with patients and seeing what it looks like on the
inside of an emergency room. And hopefully we've groomed them
well and they go on to do good things in
(05:30):
the medical field. Oh.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
I believe they will. Absolutely, it's amazing. I'm speaking with
Jennifer Whitehurst, volunteer AMT and p VAC board member for
the Plymouth Volunteer Ambulance Core again their website p VAC
one one one dot com or go to Travelers Championship
dot com Again. For every dollar day raise, they're going
to get fifteen cents from Webster Bank. Jennifer, thank you
(05:54):
so much for being here today and for serving the community.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Thank you so much for the opportunity
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