When people call 911 for a medical emergency, they have the right to expect that well trained EMS personnel will arrive to help them within
a reasonable amount of time.

As the number of calls approached 2000 per year the Volunteers at the OVRS found that we could not guarantee an appropriate response time to the citizens that we serve. The first step was to help the Fire Departments in Ogdensburg, Heuvelton, and Rensselaer Falls establish First Responder Units (Rensselaer Falls has since established their own ambulance service).

Finally, we had to face the fact, that without paid personnel, we would soon have to go out of business. That led to the hiring of our first full time paid Paramedic.

Utilizing a combination of paid personnel and our volunteer members, the OVRS staffs its building 24 hours per day.