By Adam Kramer
The first floor has gone up, construction of the second floor of the Glen Oaks Volunteer Ambulance Corps is underway and the group hopes to move in sometime this summer.
Now the corps needs some help from the community. Last week the corps kicked off a 2002 fund-raising drive to help pay for the construction project to rebuild its fire-ravaged headquarters, which got underway at the end of last year.
“I am guessing that it will be completed by the end of July or the beginning of August, but there is no concrete finish date,” said Ted Rabinowitz, president of the Glen Oaks Ambulance Corps. “We just sent out the fliers for the 2002 drive, which is good. Now we are hoping for a good response.”
The corps serves Glen Oaks, Floral Park, Little Neck, Bellerose, the Queens side of New Hyde Park and North Shore Towers. Its station house on the corner of Union Turnpike and 257th Street in Floral Park was gutted by an electrical fire April 12, 1999.
Rabinowitz said the electrical fire was discovered by a police officer on patrol who called the Fire Department. Four hours later, the fire was extinguished but not before it had spread throughout the basement of the building, destroying the interior of the corps’ headquarters and all its equipment.
The ambulance corps has been temporarily housed in an office at the Glen Oaks Village Apartments between 255th Street and 260th Street and between 73rd Avenue and 74th Avenue. Bright yellow signs have been posted to direct residents to the headquarters.
He said since the corps’ home was destroyed, state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), state Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Bayside) and the community have been very generous with donating money to the corps, but more funds are needed to finish the construction and buy new equipment.
“We don’t see any money from the city,” he said. “Everything we raise is on our own. This is not only us but all volunteer ambulance corps.”
He said he was not sure how the proposed cuts to the FDNY’s EMS would affect them, but the corps will continue doing what it has done since its inception. In its 28 years the volunteer ambulance corps has responded to more than 21,000 calls.
Besides going out on calls, the Glen Oaks corps attends many community events at the Queens Farm Museum, the race at Alley Park Pond, the Glen Oaks Little League Parade and the car show, he said. In addition to lending out wheelchairs, walkers and crutches, the group offers CPR classes and emergency medical training.
“We hope to make the training center available for community groups,” Rabinowitz said, “and keep membership growing.”
For those interested in helping the volunteer ambulance corps, donations can be sent to the Glen Oaks Volunteer Ambulance Corps at PO Box 340, Glen Oaks, N.Y. 11004.
Those who want to join the 80-volunteer force can stop by the station during operating hours from 6 p.m. to midnight during the week and 24 hours a day on the weekends.
For more information call 347-1637 or in case of an emergency call 347-1600.
Reach reporter Adam Kramer by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 157.
