GOSHEN – Well over 130 people gathered on Sunday afternoon for the open house and dedication of the new Highland Ambulance facility on Williams Drive in Goshen.
“This is a tremendously important day for us, but this facility is really for you,” Don Boisvert president of the Highland Ambulance board of directors said.
Highland Ambulance is a private nonprofit that serves the towns of Ashfield, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Plainfield and Williamsburg, an area that encompasses 160 square miles and 8,000 residents.
Since it was founded in 2004, Highland has been located in the Goshen Fire Station near the geographic center of its service area – something that has always been meant to be temporary.
Neither fire department nor ambulance service officials imagined that they would be housed together for so long. “We are like the in-laws that came to visit for a couple weeks and stayed 12 years!” joked one of Highland Ambulances treasurer Spencer Tim, who also is one of the service’s founders.
Since its formation, the organization had been searching for a permanent home of its own, and after many years of meticulous planning and several setbacks, they purchased property at 12 Williams Dr., and broke ground for the new building in October 2015
The new one-floor 72-foot by 60-foot facility houses a two offices, two bedrooms, a kitchen, a sizable training room and a medical supply room.
“It’s really tremendous,” Chesterfield Select Board member Robert Recos said. “I was watching this as it went up and the building is very well-constructed and will last for a long time.”
The building was dedicated to Christopher “Kit” Smith who passed away last year at the age of 83.
“Kit Smith was a significant supporter who was a board member since the day we started. Just before he died, he left a (certificate of deposit) for $150,000 for us to purchase our next ambulance,” Tim said.
Highland Ambulance Service Director Mike Rock described Smith as a man of “quiet wisdom” who went out of his way to help people. “We will continue his high level of dedication and service to our community,” Rock said.
Many members of Smith’s family were on hand for the ceremony.
Ruth Dresser, the wife of the late Francis Dresser, who was another founding member of the ambulance service and longtime Goshen fire chief, cut the ribbon officially opening the facility.
In his speech during the dedication ceremony, Rock said that the $900,000 project would never have come together without the “amazing support from the community and all of the people who volunteered their time.”
Walking around the pristine new facility one could see numerous thank you notes to various donors taped onto appliances, phones, televisions and equipment.
Tim said that some of the major donors and supporters included Rachel Maddow and Susan Mikula of Cummington; the Cummington Firefighters Association; building Architect Jeff Penn; R.R Windows of Easthampton, which donated all of the windows and doors; Lowes of Hadley, which provided appliances and outdoor equipment at a low cost; George D. Judd & Sons, which donated all the stone for the front of the building; and George Propane.
Ryan Strong now of Albany, New York, used to work for Highland Ambulance when it first opened. He made a trip home to attend the open house.
“It is beautiful! It’s great to see a nonprofit service like this get a nice permanent home and have such wonderful support from the community,” Strong said.
Highland currently has two ambulances and provides 24-hour service seven days a week with two full-time and 37 part-time employees.
“This is a fabulous service to have for the Hilltowns and I am glad they have their new facility,” Goshen Fire Chief Sue Labrie said. “It is really like when relatives are moving out of the house. You wish them well.”
Goshen Fire Captain Bob Labrie called that the new facility “the envy of other small communities,” and said there are no big plans being made for the Goshen Fire Station.
“We literally squeezed three bays worth of fire apparatus into two bays to allow Highland Ambulance rigs to fit. This will give us the freedom to return to having adequate space between vehicles.”
Rock said everyone is looking forward to moving into the new building
“We will set up operations in about two weeks after we get some of the last few things done,” Rock said.