From 1954 to 2007 - The Bensley-Bermuda Volunteer Rescue Squad

The Establishment

Two years before Peter Safar and James Elam invented mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and almost twenty years before the world's first mass citizen training of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (or CPR), a group of residents in the Bensley area of Chesterfield County, Virginia met for the first time. These citizens had identified a pressing need for the community -- the need to provide care to the sick and injured in the community and to provide emergency transport to local hospitals. On May 19, 1954, in a meeting held at that most American of community gathering places, the community firehouse, the decision was made to form a Rescue Squad.

It was to be named the Bensley Volunteer Rescue Squad.

On that day in May, 1954, in a meeting organizaed by John H. Brooks and presided over by Mr. Lynn Currey, the original members of the community interested in the formation of a squad elected from among their ranks their leadership. In the same process the Squad uses today, the officers were elected and announced. They were:

• President: Mr. Lynn Currey
• Vice-President: Mrs. L.G. Calder
• Secretary: Mr. B.L. Bass, Jr.
• Treasurer: Mr. John H. Brooks
• Directors: Mr. D. Scudder, Mr. J.M. Bowlers, Jr., and Mr. Cecil Glass

From the first moments of its life, the Squad received generous contributions from an enthusiastic community. Immediately after the founding meeting, the treasurer, Mr. Brooks, started canvassing the neighborhood for donations. Within one week the new Squad had $921.50 in the treasury, and promises of more financial help in the future. Over the more then fifty years the Squad has been in service, the community and the citizenry have kept this promise.

The second rescue squad in Chesterfield County, and the first squad in the Richmond area to accept women among its members, Bensley received its charter on June 7, 1954. Later that month, on June 18, 1954, the thirty-eight charter members, numbering twelve women and 26 men, started first aid classes. These Standard and Advanced First Aid courses, taught to the Squad's charter members by Mr. Lawrence Fisher, were the only required training for members -- 24 hours of knowledge. The training everyone thinks of today -- CPR, or cardiopulmonary rescusciation -- was not introduced to physicians until 1960, but it would soon follow as an often used skill by the Squad's members.

In July of 1954, the Squad purchased a 1941 Cadillac ambulance from neighboring Henrico Rescue Squad. The members chose light gray with red lettering as the colors for the equipment, and began gathering the necessary equipment and supplies to provision the Squad to care for the community. Early administrative functions were established -- insurance had to procured, vendor relationships had to be established, organizational by-laws and operating rules had to be drawn up and accepted, uniforms, caps, badges, and shoulder patches had to be ordered.

The First Days

Just four short months after deciding to create a Squad, in September the fledgling rescuers moved into the new addition built onto the Bensley Fire Station at 5803 Wentworth Street. This Rescue station was located just west of 19 1/2 Petersburg Pike, and was the only squad positioned to handle problems on the busy State Routes 1 and 301. Just one month later, the Squad would face its first call.

Founding Chief Operations Officer Mr. J.W. Swineford was appointed and crews of three were formed, according to the working hours of the members. The ten women who completed the required Red Cross Advanced First Aid training staffed the squad during the weekdays while the male members were at their jobs. The squad received emergency calls and requests for transportation by telephone at 82-8998 and dispatched their own crew. Dispatching hours were scheduled in four hour shifts between 6:oo a.m. and 10:00 p.m.. At 10:00 p.m. the night dispatch came on duty and slept in the office until 6:oo a.m. and answered telephone calls as they came in.

Bensley Rescue Squad's first day of operation was on October 2, 1954 at 6:oo a.m. with Mrs. L.G. Calder serving as dispatcher for the first four hour shift. The Squad answered 146 calls the first year; in its second year the Squad answered 266 calls.

Early Growth

In October of 1955 the Squad added a second vehicle to its fleet, obtaining a new Chevrolet Suburban Carryall, converted into an ambulance to carry and care for as many as four patients at once time. Having served a long and full life, in that same time, the original Squad ambulance was replaced with a 1950 Chevrolet ambulance to use for house calls or transports. That vehicle also was replaced in a few years to make way for a 1959 Chevrolet Suburban Carryall equipped the same way as the 1955 ambulance. The Squad then had two radio equipped carryalls, giving ample room to carry up to eight patients at one time if necessary.

Responding to a growing number of boating accidents and ergencies on the water, a 14 foot aluminum boat equipped with a 10hp motor, auxiliary gas tank, fire extinguishers, life jackets, oars, generator and floodlights was added to Bensley's fleet. The boat was mounted on a trailer which could be towed with either an ambulance or a squad member's car.

The Squad adopted a special honor for the rare indivudual or individuals who showed extraordinary support for our needs over time. The first Honorary Members were Mr. and Mrs. J.G. Hening, who faithfully contributed to the Squad's needs. As time passed, some of the charter members moved from the area and some have left because of ill health or age. Mr. John Bowles served with the squad until his death on April 15, 1956. At the beginning of 1960, there were 14 men and 2 women of the Charter members still with the squad, and the total membership in 1960 was 31 men and 6 women.

In 1961, a Chevrolet Station Wagon was donated to the squad by Goyne Chevrolet, presented to the Squad President Mr. Billy Quaiff by Mr. Harold T. Goyne, Jr. The wagon had two new added features for an ambulance of its time -- air conditioning and an oxygen administration set. The former aided in the comfortable transport of patients on hot Virginia days; the latter was donated by the Richmond Area Heart Association and was used to provide more advanced care to patients.

Having outgrown our orignial facility, on February 6, 1966 the Squad moved into temporary quarters at 2434 Willis Road. This new headquarters, a trailer loaned by Dodd's Trailer Sales, served as the Squad base of operations for nearly two years. These were not luxurious accomodations -- there were no water hookups and no place for the crews to sleep, leaving the dispatcher as only person to stay at the trailer overnight. The three ambulances were taken home for washing and cleaning by the members. The night dispatcher received the emergency calls by telephone and then called the crew at their homes to respond.

A Shift South

January 17, 1968 saw a milestone event for the Squad when it moved to the Bermuda area of Chesterfield County. Accepting land at 11345 Jefferson Davis Highway donated by Mr. Harold T. Goyne, Sr., a former Bermuda District Supervisor, the Squad took a hyphenated name to recognize its origins in the Bensley area and its current location in the Bermuda district of the county.

At that time, the Squad's name was officially changed to Bensley-Bermuda Volunteer Rescue Squad.

The Women's Auxiliary was organized in November 1967 and served refreshments at the Open House on January 21, 1968. The Ladies Auxiliary (which amended its name to The Auxiliary with their decision to accept men into the organization) has always been a vital part of the Squad. Through the donation of time, the Auxiliary has supported the mission of the Squad since its inception. As we still do today, each year the Squad has fund drives thanks to the efforts of our Auxiliary. Then, as now, we receive donations and support from the Auxiliary to help in purchasing new equipment needed by the squad. These generous gifts have included money for the purchase of new ambulances, redecoration and revitalization of the building and grounds of our various facilities, including new flooring, paint, molding, curtains, rugs, furniture and a freezer. Their support surpasses a simple accounting of items purchased -- they are an integral part of our organization.

Advanced Training

The new decade saw changes in our training requirements and a new avenue of community support: technical rescue. In 1970 and 1971 were the first Emergency Medical Technician courses available to our membership, and they offered completely upgrading levels of care that could be provided to our patients. In 1972 a medium duty Crash Truck (named "Daisy Mae" after Daisy Mae Cheatham, who was a member of Bensley in the year 1961) was placed in service. "Daisy Mae" served the squad for twenty years as Unit 320 from 1972 until she was retired in October of 1992.

In 1975, it appeared that larger quarters would be needed to house the crash truck and the new modular type ambulances which had become the standard body style for emergency vehicles in our area. Additionally, we needed more substantial crew quarters as our membership continued to grow. On May 26, 1976, the Squad moved into its present location at 2500 Rio Vista Road, directly behind the old Jefferson Davis quarters. For a time, the old building was used as a meeting place for classes, squad meetings, District Meetings, and for Bingo Games. This building was demolished to make way for the new Route 288 and the widening of Route I-301. A smaller masonry shed still exists on the site.

More Community Demand, More Growth

In early 1992, the Squad received a reconditioned Mack truck chassis from the Bensley Fire Department which replaced "Daisy Mae" and served until 2003 as our Technical Rescue truck. At that time we converted ambulance 520 into 510 which is our current Crash Truck. Today there are specialized classes taught such as Vehicle Extrication, Emergency Vehicle Operators Course, Water Rescue, Search and Rescue, Hazardous Materials Awareness, Hazardous Materials Operations, Incident Command, and many others that prepare us to deal with the many types of situations where our community needs our help.

During 53 years of operation we have grown from a squad of 38 American Red Cross first aid providers with one ambulance, to a squad of 120 active members trained as Paramedics, other Advanced Life Support providers and Emergency Medical Technicians. We now have 6 ambulances all of which are Advanced Life-support Equipped, 1 Crash Truck, and 1 Quick Response Vehicle.

In addition to our Main Base, we have a North Station located near the DuPont Plant on Jefferson Davis Highway. DuPont assisted the squad in obtaining the land that North Station sits on, and until the current station was built, the crews had to work out of a trailer with no running water; however it did provide sleeping quarters. The South Station serves the Walthall area. The land that South Station is located on was donated by Allied Chemical Corp. Until the station was built, the crews were quartered in the Interstate Inn. The motel management provided a room to use as quarters and a place to plug in the ambulance to keep the batteries and equipment charged and to power a heater to keep the vehicle warm. That generous support provided a safe place to put our ambulance and crew and was made possible by Mr. Fred Allen a member of BBVRS.