Beaver Island EMS was a conception begun by Dr. Joseph Christie and both township governments on or around 1975 when an old Red Cross ambulance was purchased for Dr. Christie and a twin engine aircraft was acquired to transport emergency patients. Unfortunately, both the old ambulance and the aircraft were gone before the true beginning of Beaver Island EMS.
Michael F. McGinnity, RN, re-established the need for prehospital care and transportation when he initiated the contact with LifeLink, Inc. from Petoskey , Michigan to offer the first Basic EMT class on Beaver Island in 1985. Students in the first class included Ruth Gregg, Perry and Sandy Fortier, Roger Laars, Mike McGinnity, John and Joyce Runberg, and Bill McDonough. John LaMont was the instructor for this course offered on Beaver Island . The beginning group initiated a purchase of an old ambulance from Mackinac City , and began the work of stocking it with supplies.
The second EMT class occurred the following year with John LaMont, Larry Hansen , and Mike McGinnity taking turns teaching the program in 1986. The students in the second class included Neal and Connie Boyle, Ruth Gregg, Bill Markey, Jim Hibbler, Mary Delamater, Jerry Sowa, and Joe Moore. Quite a few of the successful students from the first class left the Island which required the second class.
From this second EMT class developed the leadership to form an organization with Neal Boyle, president; Bill Markey, Vice-President; Connie Boyle, treasurer; and Joyce Runberg, Secretary. The official beginnings were in 1986, but the organization was fully up and running with two divisions in May 1987. The two divisions included a land and water division of Beaver Island Emergency Medical Services and Rescue, which were individually headed by Neal Boyle, the land division, and by Alan Muma , the water division. Alan Muma, the BI deputy sheriff, was the first to recognize the need for a rescue boat to help stranded visitors and to have the ability to rescue people in the water. The original organizational motto was “Islands of Safety.”
After several months, Bill Markey became the new acting president, and the first on-call list was published. Many hours were spent fundraising to better equip the organization for its noble mission. In July of 1988, a new leader emerged and was elected president. Jerry Sowa, as a retired marine officer, had the experience to lead the organization and to move it forward. Under his leadership, the first EMT-Specialist class was taught. Those completing this class included Joe Moore, Bill Markey, Jerry Sowa, and Mike McGinnity. Bill Markey took the helm in November 1988 and realized that we needed an Island-based education program so he sent Joe Moore off the Island to take the EMT Instructor Coordinator program in April 1989.
During Bill Markey's presidency several important changes took place to make Beaver Island EMS more professional. A State of Michigan-approved special study was written to allow the Beaver Island EMT-Specialists to use an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), to start Intravenous fluids, and to place a tube in the trachea of a cardiac arrest patient, but BIEMS was unable to participate without the equipment in October 1989.
The Beaver Island Medical Center helped sponsor a fundraising campaign named “Hundred with a Heart” to raise the necessary money for the AED. The campaign was very successful and a plaque was purchased to mark this historic event, which included engraving the names of all who donated to make this successful.
Bill Markey also was successful in improving the emergency communications on Beaver Island . In August of 1990, the repeater tower went up near the old Peaine Township hall. This repeater tower is still in use today. Bill Markey is also responsible for the completion of the OSHA required “Clean Room” in the ambulance garage. Bill deserves a big thank you for all this work in getting these accomplished.
In 1991, after Alan Muma had left Beaver Island , a new rescue boat captain became involved. Jim Owens , also a deputy sheriff like Alan Muma, became the contact person for stranded vessels in northern Lake Michigan . While Jim Owens was the rescue boat captain, the boat was used for true water rescue, for towing stranded vessels, for helping lost vessels, and for training. Several BIEMS personnel became trained by a retired United State Coast Guard Commander and author of the Water Rescue textbook published by Mosby Lifeline. This training encompassed personal rescue, victim rescue, water search and rescue, and land search and rescue. In June of 1992, the township governments decided to raffle the rescue boat and dedicate the money from the raffle to the purchase of water rescue equipment.
After Bill Markey stepped down as the president (chairperson), Joe Moore took over as chairperson. Then Mike and Bev Russell became involved in BIEMS , which was probably the most productive period for BIEMS. BIEMS received a Rural EMS grant to purchase training equipment so that necessary training for EMTs could continue. Mike and Bev helped out in so many way that they can't all be listed here, but some include financial solvency with millage for BIEMS, fiscal and operations reports to the township, and State of Michigan approved education sponsorship. Bev and Mike Russell were also part of the first paramedic program ever taught on Beaver Island , which included Joe Moore, Karl Kiss, and Bob Hamil . Mike and Bev Russell worked diligently to get BIEMS up to the Advanced Life Support (ALS) level that allows Beaver Island to provide the same level of care as an agency in the “big city”.
Most recently Joe Moore has shared this chairperson position with Gerald LaFreniere , and now the current Executive Director of BIEMS is Sarah McCafferty.
The current membership includes Jim Stambaugh, Pam Moxham, and Deb Plastrik, as medical first responders (61 hours of training); Basic EMTs Cindy Gillespie, Donna Kubic, and Dawn Traficante (200+ hours of training;) EMT-Specialists Gerald LaFreniere (300+ hours of training); and Sarah McCafferty and Ken Bruland , paramedics. In addition to this resident group of EMS providers, during the summer months, BIEMS also have two paramedics and instructors Lisa and Steve Rose, both paramedic instructors at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek , Michigan .
Recently, Steve and Lisa Rose with local instructor Joe Moore have taught a second paramedic program on the Island . Students in the program included Sarah McCafferty, Ken Bruland, and Dawn Traficante. It will be late August before any of these people will be able to license at the paramedic level. The hour s f or all training up to and including this paramedic program total 1200+ hour of training.
Beaver Island EMS has three vehicles to respond to emergencies. Two of those are diesel-fueled ambulances, Type III, which is a van chassis with a box on the back of the chassis ; one is licensed at the Basic Life Support Level, Fifty-seven Alpha One, and the other is licensed at the Advanced Life Support Level, Fifty-seven Alpha Two. The other vehicle is called the Echo car , which means it has all of the equipment necessary to make it an advanced life support vehicle. Beaver Island EMS has been licensed at the Advanced Life Support (ALS) level since the year 2000.