Easton’s EMS Department continues its campaign for a sorely needed new building this weekend through a fundraising drive on Oct. 29 and 30 in front of EMS headquarters at 448 Sport Hill Road across the street from Silverman’s Farm.
The current headquarters was built in 1925 and faces the kinds of structural, plumbing and other issues one might expect from a 97-year-old building. Some of these problems are too far gone to justify the cost of a repair or renovation, such as a sagging second floor and a septic system that is over fifty years old. As more time passes, the sense of urgency grows for this essential town service to find a new home for a new facility to better serve the Easton community.
As Victor Malindretos, president of Easton’s the EMS board and an EMS volunteer, told the Courier in 2020, “We have outgrown the current building over the years (and need) to accommodate our ambulances and response vehicles, business offices, bunk rooms, training rooms, and areas for emergency cooling and heating centers.”
A new Easton EMS facility is a project that has long been in the works for one of the town’s most important departments, and the EMS volunteers and staff have taken charge of raising money for a much-needed upgrade. Over the past several years, the Easton EMS department has been holding fundraising drives to raise money for a new facility to house and train their growing group of thirty-two staff, thirty of whom are volunteers.
During the month of October, EMT Josh Meszaros – who has remarkably helped to deliver two healthy babies in Easton – and his colleagues began organizing occasional bucket donation drives on weekends. Meszaros said the response from the Easton community has been overwhelmingly supportive.
“The public has been out here and the Silverman’s traffic has been crazy,” Meszaros said. “We’ve raised over ten thousand dollars.”
This recent success is just what the department needs as it faces the challenging process of finding a new location for its headquarters while raising funds for a state-of-the-art facility. Although EMS will receive state and federal funding for the project, the burden falls on the volunteers and employees of the Easton branch to fund a significant portion of the building costs.
“Every penny counts at this point just to make the building happen,” Meszaros said.
Meszaros said that Easton EMS already has “a couple of different properties in mind…near the center of town,” locations that he says would allow for the EMS responders to be in a better position to reach the community at large.
This project is meaningful, not only to the hardworking volunteers and employees of the Easton EMS, but to all Easton residents. The Easton EMS is a first line of response for health and safety in the community, which makes upgrading and updating the EMS facilities a crucial need. A new facility will also allow for more efficient and effective training of the next generation of EMS personnel.
Keep an eye out for the Easton EMS volunteers this weekend along Sport Hill Rd. or consider taking a detour or special trip to make a donation.
