R-136 Page 1 of 1
2023
No. R-136. House concurrent resolution congratulating the Bennington Rescue Squad on its 60th anniversary.
(H.C.R.110)
Offered by: Representatives Morrissey of Bennington, Carroll of Bennington, Corcoran of Bennington, and Whitman of Bennington Offered by: Senators Campion and Sears Whereas, in 1963, the Vermont State Police, the Hoosick Falls Rescue Squad, and local funeral directors and service clubs coalesced to establish the volunteer Bennington Rescue Squad (the Squad), and its founding fathers were William Baker, Andre Betit, Edward Gardner, John Kennedy, John Marechal, William Mattison Jr., and Alfred Pinsonneault,
and Whereas, the Squad was initially headquartered at the Tri-Mont Texaco Station in
Bennington, and the proprietor, Andre Betit, handled daytime dispatching, with the Bennington Police Department assuming this role at night, and Whereas, a garage on Safford Street served as the Squad’s second home, and, in the late
1970s, McKinley Street became its permanent site in a building since extensively expanded and updated, and Whereas, the establishment of the Squad greatly improved area access to emergency medical services, which are often lifesaving, at home, at work, or on a highway and dramatically increased the recovery rate from a sudden illness or injury, and Whereas, the Squad hired its first full-time employee in 1999, and in 2002, the same year a paramedic-level response service was introduced, hired its first executive director,
and today it is proud of its broadly based staff of highly trained medical professionals who serve the greater Bennington community with great skill, pride, and distinction, and Whereas, in 2023, the Bennington Rescue Squad is a superb, full-time professional emergency medical service with a comprehensive vehicle fleet that includes a snowmobile and a Mass Casualty Trailer, and it offers out-of-hospital care, preventative medicine,
follow-up care, and access to telemedicine, primarily in the towns of Bennington,
Woodford, and Shaftsbury, and Whereas, this stellar rescue organization is celebrating its 60th anniversary with commemorative events during National EMS Week, which is May 21–27, 2023, now therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives:
That the General Assembly congratulates the Bennington Rescue Squad on its 60th anniversary, and be it further Resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send a copy of this resolution to
the Bennington Rescue Squad.
VT LEG #370766 v.1