Sperryville chief retires, addresses emergency care
You just never know.
Two decades ago, when he was working on global health issues with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation or before that, when he was helping to shape HIV/AIDS policy in the Clinton White House, Todd Summers couldn’t have imagined that one day he’d be driving a rescue squad van around Rappahannock County.
It was even less likely that he would have seen himself as chief of a volunteer company. But for the past four years, he’s headed the Sperryville Volunteer Rescue Squad. He started there as a driver in 2016.
“I’d been doing all this weighty policy stuff, and then, all of a sudden, I was doing very hands-on stuff,” he said. “It had a lot to do with moving here full time 10 years ago and wanting to connect to the community in a real way.”
Soon to turn 65, Summers officially stepped down as chief at the end of last year. He said he’ll continue to make runs for a few more weeks, but then he and his husband, Chris Co, will be leaving Rappahannock to do some traveling. This summer, they’ll be moving to Spain.
“I’m gonna miss the people,” he said. “I won’t miss getting up in the middle of the night.”
COVID’s toll
Answering calls as an Emergency Medical Technician was especially challenging during the pandemic, said Summers.
“COVID was brutal. There were really just a few of us who were able to run calls because a lot of our members were very senior, and it was unsafe for them to be exposed,” he remembered. “So I think there were three of us EMTs basically trying to cover 24/7.”
He also experienced more deaths than usual. “Some were probably COVID, some maybe because people didn’t go to see the doctor because of COVID. There were four or five people who passed away during that period. And that was difficult.”
Harold Beebout, former Sperryville Volunteer Rescue squad chief, with Doug Schiffman, RappU founder, and Todd Summers in 2017 when he was a volunteer ambulance driver. (Photo/Luke Christopher)
Through almost a decade as a volunteer, Summers has witnessed firsthand one of the county’s more precarious faultlines: An aging population served by aging emergency volunteers, a situation complicated by Rappahannock’s size and lack of health care facilities.
That can make for intense and stressful long rides to the nearest hospital, he said. “In Fauquier, you can pretty much be in the hospital in five minutes.”
Coming out of COVID, he saw the toll it had taken on the handful of volunteers responding to calls, and it was clear that the company badly needed more support from people with Advanced Life Support (ALS) training.
So, in 2022 he helped initiate a pilot program in which a paid paramedic would work two, 24-hour shifts out of the Sperryville station. That’s been expanded to as many as four, all-day shifts there, with the county now picking up 80% of the cost.
Still, Summers feels that this hybrid approach to emergency care staffing Is “papering over” a real need for more EMTs with ALS certification that allows them, for instance, to start an IV on a patient.
“Like the rest of Rappahannock, Sperryville has a lot of seniors, some of them with more complicated health problems, and they really require paramedic level care,” he said. “It’s both cardiac care, for example, and pain management. When you have to move someone who’s severely injured without pain management, it’s very difficult for them, and very difficult for us.”
Shortage of paramedics
The strategy of adding more part-time paid EMTs to the mix of emergency responders, though, has its own challenges, according to Summers.
“There’s high, high demand for paramedics, and this is not the most attractive location for young paramedics who want to run a lot of calls to build up their skills,” he said. Also, he noted that a number of paid paramedics who have run calls in Rappahannock are moonlighting with other jobs, and that can make it difficult for them to commit to working shifts here.
“The people we’ve brought on have been amazing. They’ve been helpful in training us and keeping our skills going,” he said “They’re more experienced people so that helps us serve the community better.”
But he believes that the gaps in emergency coverage that the paid paramedics have been brought into the county to cover will only get bigger. He pointed out that some volunteers still answering calls have had strokes or have “serious cardiac issues.” And, while he’s been impressed with the emergency care course now being offered at Rappahannock County High School, Summers isn’t sure how much that ultimately will fill the gap.
“I don’t think that’s going to solve our problem,” he said. “Most of the young people we’ve had here go on to do their health careers somewhere else. Amazing thing for the world. Not so much for Rappahannock,”
“Answering calls was the best part of the job. When you’re on the scene, and you’re working with people from other companies, people with different backgrounds, and you’re all working with one focus, that’s an incredibly good feeling,” Summer said. (Photo/Ireland Hayes for Foothills Forum)
‘Best part of the job’
Summers acknowledged the challenges of relying more heavily on paid EMTS, including how that could affect the important connection volunteer companies have to their communities.
“The county is going to have to make some difficult calls,” he said. “What I’ve urged them to do is develop two or three different scenarios and price them out, and do the pros and cons in front of the supervisors.
“I’ve been arguing with the county that they really need to do a full-scale assessment of this,” Summers added. “I don’t think people in the county really appreciate how at risk they are, when they call 911, of having someone show up who doesn’t have the skills or equipment that’s necessary.”
Despite his concerns, Summers said he has no regrets about his time as a volunteer answering calls, with the exception, perhaps, of those that came in the middle of the night.
“We’ve been on some very difficult scenes, you know, fatal car accidents, but everybody hangs in there and works together. And that’s really amazing,” he said.
“Answering calls was the best part of the job. When you’re on the scene, and you’re working with people from other companies, people with different backgrounds, and you’re all working with one focus, that’s an incredibly good feeling,” he said.
