By Clark Judge.
Jim Lally has been a resident of Killingworth since 1972, and, as a former Killingworth Ambulance Association board member, says he’s “passionate” about the association. But as a resident who contributed so much to the community that he was named Killingworth Citizen of the Year in 2012, Jim Lally admits he’s also concerned about the KAA’s future.
The reason: A shrinking pool of volunteers serving as first responders.
“There are good people in Killingworth who want to volunteer,” said Lally, who owns and manages Schumack Engineered Construction in Clinton, “but the ambulance association needs to get out there and let people know: Get involved!”
Lally has a point. The KAA is not unlike other emergency volunteer services in the area … or the country … trying to interest persons in becoming EMTs or EMRs. There’s a shortage of volunteers, with the KAA last year hanging a “Volunteers Needed” sign outside its Route 81 headquarters. That was when its number of EMTs shrunk to 17 from a high of 25. It is now at 22, with one EMR.
That’s better than many rural areas but not enough to prevent NBC News last month from detailing what it termed a national “crisis” in a story entitled, “What if you call 911 and no one comes?” It’s a good question and one that has so much of Lally’s attention that, when he made his annual donation to the KAA this summer, the contribution was so substantial it gained special attention at a board meeting.
“Why did I do it?” he said. “Because I’m very passionate about the ambulance. I feel so much about it.”
To understand why, you must return to the summer of 1960 when Lally, then 20, drove his sister home from Madison to Wallingford. It was late June on a rainy Tuesday evening, and the roads were slick from a heavy rain. As Lally passed through Guilford on Route 1, his car slid on the wet surface, spun out of control and skidded off the road — not stopping until it hit a tree.
Lally suffered life-threatening injuries, but survived. His 18-year-old sister did not.
“I put the steering wheel through my chest,” he said, “and I was in the hospital almost six-to-seven months. But my life was saved by the Guilford ambulance crew. That’s how good they were, and I’m very thankful. After that, I always said I’d give back to an organization like that … because it’s a matter of saving lives. And that’s critical.”
Lally admitted he hadn’t volunteered before. But all that changed that evening. When he recovered, he jumped at opportunities to help where and when he could.
“I felt I owed it,” he said. “I got to know a couple of guys (Guilford EMTs) after the fact. I kept in touch with them. And I always felt it’s important – if you can afford to – to give back. It doesn’t have to be money. It can be time.”
Or it can be both, and Jim Lally is proof.
Not long after moving to Killingworth, he joined the KAA and served on its board for nearly a decade. Then he donated the services of his construction company toward the building of the KAA’s two-story headquarters in 1982 (it was completed in 1983). In fact, he still has a 4X6 color photo of him driving a bulldozer as he grades the building’s parking lot.
“Jim was quiet,” said Don McDougal, a KAA board member who made the group’s third-ever ambulance run in 1971 as an EMT. “But if you needed anything done, he did it. And I know he did a lot for the ambulance (KAA) when we first started. No questions asked. He just did it.”
Lally has been chairman of the Killingworth Parks and Recreation Department. He co-chaired construction of the new EOC building. He donated the services of Schumack Construction toward the creation of Eric Auer Park … the renovations to Irene Sheldon Park … construction of the Sugar Shack at Parmelee Farm … and work at Rocco Reale Memorial field and the Killingworth Elementary School. He also supported youth sports leagues, the HKYFS, Pumpkin Run and Lions Club Concert Series and provided materials for the Killingworth Town Picnic.
In short, his fingerprints are everywhere in town.
“I love the volunteer spirit,” Lally said. “And I love the volunteer spirit of Killingworth. It’s the engine that drives this town.”
One of Lally’s favorite stories involving the KAA and its volunteers dates back to the 1970s when former KAA president, founder and EMT Charlie Smith answered an emergency call on Route 81. Smith, so active locally that people who know him call him “a professional volunteer,” rushed to the scene and helped pull a pig out of a burning building. Nobody was injured, but Smith was so concerned about the pig that he stayed behind to comfort it, rubbing snow that had fallen along its injured back.
“It made me feel better,” Smith said, smiling when retold the story, “but I don’t know about the pig.”
Another story Lally recites involves EMTs rescuing a grandson after he was injured in an ATV accident at Cockaponsett State Forest. It happened when the vehicle in which he was riding crashed into a tree, injuring the young man so seriously that he was rushed by ambulance to Hartford Hospital.
He not only survived but works for Lally today.
“The ambulance company saved him,” he said. “He was in shock, but they got there when they could and they stabilized him. They saved his life.
“Those are the kinds of things that people don’t know, and it’s the kind of thing that needs to be brought out about volunteers. There are stories like that all around.”
Then he paused.
“We cannot let ourselves fall into the trap of having someone tell us we don’t have enough responders,” he said. “That would break my heart.”
Lally’s concerns are echoed by Madison Ambulance Association director Chris Bernier, who in October said the group is “not receiving the funding that is adequate for the town’s safety” and asked for more help to provide for additional paramedic support. According to a recent report in Philadelphia’s City Journal, “declining volunteerism is especially pronounced in America’s rural counties, many of which – with aging populations and a declining financial base – must support increased support for ambulatory and fire services.”
“Everyone has the problem,” Lally said. “What I don’t want is to have a professional ambulance have to come to us … where we have to pay them … because we don’t have enough responders. That would be catastrophic. But that’s where we are now. We need to get more people there and more interest — because if you’re passionate, there’s no stopping it.”
Jim Lally is passionate. That’s why he continues to support the Killingworth Ambulance Association, continues to support the town of Killingworth and continues to call volunteers to action.
“With the Killingworth Ambulance Association,” he said, “you have an organization that lays its heart on the line. I just hope people see the need more than there is now.”
