History
The Essex Ambulance Association (EAA) was incorporated on December 2, 1964 to oversee the ambulance service provided to the townspeople of Essex. At this time, we did not have our own ambulance; we managed the ambulance service contract Essex entered into with Professional Ambulance. During this time period, calls for ambulance service were answered by Connecticut State Police - Troop F, who dispatched units from Professional Ambulance in Middletown. With the average response time being twenty minutes or greater, Essex looked at a service model that provided local ambulance service staffed by volunteers in the late 1970s. Thus, the Essex Ambulance Association that you see today was born.
EAA started providing ambulance service in 1977 with one ambulance in an extra bay of the Esso station at the corner of Dennison Road and Main Street in Centerbrook (which is now the new Dunkin’ Donuts),across the street from our current facility.
In 1977 we purchased the building we currently reside in. This building started out as a Blacksmith shop, and then became the Higgins Store which sold groceries and operated a small restaurant. Next, it became a Pizza Shop and then was sold to EAA.
As you can see by the picture below, work was needed to properly fashion the property into a functional ambulance headquarters. We needed additional office space, a kitchen, bathrooms, sleeping quarters and of course, ambulance bays. Carpentry students from the Vinal Regional Vocational Technical School volunteered to help frame and expand the building with the help of many local craftsmen; it was quite a community effort with many people pitching in. According to some Courant newspaper clippings, the following kind folks helped us get our start: Ellis Baker was hired as the building coordinator (he promptly donated his salary to the construction work), Don Mitchell finished the carpentry work, Joseph Falavini poured the foundation, Ray Northrop did the electrical work, Phillip Lombardi did the plumbing and heating, Essex Concrete contributed the new dry well, Jeffrey Greider did the backhoe work, Heibert Clark and Stanley Wollock donated fill, Steve Lott bulldozed and graded the lot and the Essex Garden Club landscaped and planted the yard. This construction was completed in September, 1978.
From 1977 – 1990 we operated only one ambulance and had an extra bay; we offered our extra bay and sleeping quarters to serve as the home to Middlesex Hospital’s shoreline Paramedic service. In 1990, we acquired a second ambulance and started running two units. At this time, the Shoreline Clinic had become a 24 hour operation so the Paramedic staff had a place to be stationed.
In 1991, we needed more office space and a training facility. Paul Bombaci offered his services and built these rooms for us during the summer. We still use these rooms today.
Through the mid-1990s, we provided inter-facility transfer services for the Shoreline Clinic; due to the significant volume the Clinic started producing and the growth our town was experiencing we felt it appropriate to have a commercial ambulance firm handle this service. Our call volume has climbed significantly; in 1987 we had 499 requests for service including Clinic transfers (which are now handled by Hunter’s), and in past three years we have averaged over 900 emergency calls.
