Lt. Daniel K. Kehoe, (Ret.)
No organization escapes hard times if they exist long enough. The SVAA had its share of hardships as well. Here are just a few of the ones I remember.
The Steiger murders
July 11, 1987
Eric K. Steiger, heir and grandson of the Steiger department store founder, was convicted of murdering two young men recently moved into the Kingfisher Lane neighborhood of Suffield. They were displeased with the impromptu keg party attended by Steiger in a cul-de-sac near their new homes, poking Steiger in the face with a pipe as they told everyone to leave.
Returning armed and in army fatigues while promising he would, “take the initiative,” Steiger shot the two young men in their driveway. He was convicted and is serving life without parole. Others involved with Steiger received lighter or dismissed sentences.
This call was very memorable for me, as I was on EM-1 returning from Hartford when we heard the dispatch. As we exited Route 20 at Route 75, we heard the officer on the radio and knew it was bad:
“Cancel EM-1, call Major Crime Squad”
The murders rocked Suffield, which even to this day remains a fairly quiet town. The connection to the Steiger name and stores boosted the story into the national news—something that Suffield people were not accustomed to.
Collision with the Bradley Paramedics on Babbs Road
Late 1980s
A serious crash involving the Suffield Ambulance and the Bradley Field Paramedics occurred in the late 1980s as the two vehicles were responding to a call for an unresponsive man in the Congamond area. Though injuries were minor, both ambulances were totaled. The unresponsive man was found to be sleeping.
On the brink of bankruptcy with free transports
About 1990
The SVAA had enjoyed a decade of strong community support since its founding in 1976, but the 1980s brought intense financial pressures to the organization. Rising medical supply costs, inflation run amok, and increasing insurance costs outpaced the funding raised by the annual fund drive. Since its inception, the SVAA did not charge for ambulance transports, and it was becoming apparent that, at least financially, “volunteer” could no longer equate to “no charge for service”.
In board meetings, the financial reports from the treasurer continued to show a rapidly approaching date at which the SVAA would be bankrupt and out of business.
The decision to start charging for ambulance transports was made in 1991, and it caused great discord among many of the founding members who were still active. Several members quit, feeling that we had let the community down after 15 years of proudly keeping the service free because our labor cost was virtually zero. But a decision to not charge would have pulled the SVAA under, and the Town of Suffield would have been forced to contract with a commercial service, who would have charged for ambulance calls.
The LIFE STAR crash
June 21, 1992
LIFE STAR helicopter was responding to a motorcycle crash near the I-91 rest area in Middletown during misty conditions and night fog, when its rotor clipped power lines. This caused the copter to crash upside down and catch fire. It killed a flight nurse trapped in the back, Jennifer Hodges, and seriously injured the pilot and two others, including a driver whose car was struck by debris. This was the first such incident for LIFE STAR since its inception in 1985, and every public safety agency was emotionally affected, as almost every town had been served at least once by the innovative helicopter program.
Members from the SVAA attended the memorial service June 24th at First Church in West Hartford, and the SVAA’s Lt. Dan Kehoe, Carillonneur of Trinity College, came over to play the carillon in the tower at that church as thousands of responders stood at attention for the procession in honor of Hodges.
The Dulude family CO Poisoning
November 11, 1993
Two members of the Dulude family on Bridge Street, a middle school-aged brother and sister, plus a third friend, died as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning at a sleepover where a reverse downdraft from the heater was generally determined to have filled the room with CO. The parents and a younger sibling family member plus another friend were affected but survived.
The call at just after 6 a.m. was a heartbreaking call not only for the SVAA, but the fire and police department responders as well.
A Hartford Courant editorial called for detectors in every home in light of the tragedy, and many people rushed out to buy detectors. However, the requirement for CO detectors was not codified in building codes until 2005, despite the Suffield incident being frequently cited as a reason to do so.
Few people today are aware that the three trees planted in front of the choir room at the old McAlister School on Mountain Road are in memory of the students that died.
The Enfield Bridge Crash
March 16, 2000
The SVAA suffered another crash on Route 190 in Enfield on Thursday afternoon, March 16, 2000 while transporting a patient to Johnson Memorial. The crew and the driver of the involved car suffered minor injuries but the patient was unhurt. The ambulance was totaled and had to be replaced.