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You pass them in the village and sit near them at the diner—but everyone in the Hudson Valley has a story that would surprise you. This is a podcast for getting to know your neighbors. We’re stripping away the surface level to find the human heart of our region, proving that even the person next door has a journey worth sharing. Discover your community all over again.
[Pager beeps. Dispatcher's voice begins and fades out.] Third dispatch, Pine Plains with an engine …
Todd
I live in a community where, a couple houses down, we got a call for an unconscious child, and I happened to run down there rather than take my car. I grabbed my trauma bag, ran down there, and the child was choking.
Jen
In the Hudson Valley, when you call 911, you never quite know who's going to show up. But in our small towns, there is a chance that the person walking through your door with a trauma bag could be the same person you saw at the grocery store this morning. This is Hudson Valley Storycatcher. I'm Jen Lee.
Today I'm sitting down with Todd Van Buskirk, a firefighter and an EMT who served our region for over 40 years.
I wanted to talk to Todd because he's really the personification of neighbor helping neighbor. He's a man who's spent his life rushing toward painful or chaotic situations, not just for a paycheck or a plaque, but for the self-satisfaction of making a difference in the lives of others. Whether you've lived here your whole life or you just moved to the valley, Todd's story is going to change the way you look at the firehouse near you.
Jen
Thanks so much for talking to us.
Todd
You're welcome.
Jen
What else should we know about you, Todd?
Todd
Yeah, I'm actually a fourth generation firefighter. Been EMT for approximately 40 years. I've been in fire service for over 40 years, and I volunteer in the locality here, and I'm also a paid EMT and an EMS supervisor with a volunteer fire department and a paid EMS down in the town of Clinton.
Jen
Could you start by explaining to us a little bit about what emergency services look like in this part of the Hudson Valley, and how they might different from other parts, either north or south, or people who are more in larger towns or more rural areas?
Todd
Up here in the northern part of Dutchess County, that is, we have a lot of volunteer fire departments with volunteer ambulance cores, which I–now we're struggling trying to get EMTs because of the workload and the restrictions and qualifications. You gotta get the time it takes to train. And people work two jobs because of the way the cost of living is anymore.
They don't have time to volunteer. But a lot of the people in the towns are, you know, your neighbors, you know, everybody in the volunteer service, which is one of the best services in the world, is in volunteer service. You have, everybody has an expertise in something, whether it's plumbing, you know, carpentry or, electrical foundations, works on cars.
Everybody comes from their day jobs and comes when the call goes out. So you have a little bit of expertise on everybody. In a community. So, you know, when a call goes out, your neighbors are the ones that are actually responding to it. And sometimes, you know, we got to show up to calls and they're like, oh, I didn't know you were a fireman or you're an E-m-s worker.
I see you all the time in the store. So or in a town. And then when the call goes out, they're like, and it's at their house and they’re shocked to know that their neighbor actually is part of it.
Jen
That's kind of an amazing feeling, though, I think to be surprised, to realize, oh, the person who lives next door to you could show up and save your life.
Todd
It's happened before. I live in a community where, a couple houses down, we got a call for an unconscious child, and I happened to run down there rather than take my car. I grabbed my trauma bag, ran down there, and the child was choking. So I was able to get the child going again. And breathing. And later, like I had, I known that I would have ran up to your house.
I said, but sometimes I'm not home because I'm working. But you always call 911 and you, you said you never know who you're going to get.
Jen
So when you talk about people, being at their other jobs when the call goes out, what does that look like for people who have to kind of interrupt what they're doing in another place?
Todd
Most of the time, bosses are usually lenient and let you, you know, take off to a major incident. The smaller stuff they probably won't be able to leave for, but the major ones they do. You know, it's how community helps itself is, you know, most of the time people will leave your day jobs or, you know, a lot of times the people that are self-employed are able to go any time of the day.
But the ones that are doing a 9 to 5 job or, or whatever they're able to leave to go to some bigger stuff. They won't get paid to leave because obviously they're volunteer, but they won't get paid at their job sometimes. And, they just go back to after they get done with the call and continue work like nothing happened.
Jen
There's two things that I'm thinking about while we're, while you're explaining this.
The first thing is I think there's a certain kind of person that it takes to be, to be able to do this job. Like, I imagine there's a certain way you have to be able to tolerate adrenaline and still think clearly. Was there a time when you realized that you, the way you're built the way you are that you're capable of responding in crisis like this?
Todd
Being brought up in a firefighting family, I learned from a young age. I learned how to walk around the side of a fire truck. So, being into that, I knew it was in the blood to begin with. But there is, you know, when I was, like, 12 or 13 years old, we had an incident where a neighbor's kid flipped a bicycle, and I just immediately, without thinking, just started helping.
And I knew at that point, you know, it's it's it's in my blood. And now I'm addicted because here I'm helping people. And then I have compassion, and I just love helping people. I just love, you know, I don't want to see anybody hurt. You know, I don't want to see anybody's houses burned down. I don't wanna see any of that stuff.
But, you know, when it does happen, I want to be the one in the front line trying to mitigate the circumstances, trying to. Trying to control the scene, trying to, you know, make it better.
Jen
So can you tell me when you say, like, if you're addicted to it? I'm curious, what was it in that moment where you were like, oh, I got a taste of something, and I, I want to put myself in a place where I can have that experience again?
Todd
It's you know, it's an adrenaline rush. And to be there and just see the reaction in people's faces when you help them and you're not out there, you know, for the praise or the trophies or or, you know, the plaques or whatever. And, it's just something it's self-satisfaction that I've made a difference in this world. And it's something that you don't take for granted. And, and the EMS side of it, you see a lot of life and death and you want to make a difference.
You want to try to save as many people as you can. But, you know, as time goes on, you realize that you can't save them all. But at least you were there trying. It's just that type of self-satisfaction that I tried to do the best thing. Try to be a good human, and just help my neighbors.
Jen
That make sense. And that brings me to the second thing I was thinking about, because it seems like you need two things to be able to do this. You need to know that something in you is capable. But then the second thing is like motivation and what, drives you to do that.
When you're looking for more volunteers, how do you put out the call and what is it that you think motivates other people to volunteer for doing this work as well?
Todd
Hopefully everybody, you know, will help their neighbor. Unfortunately, the way the hustle and bustle has gotten in this world is, nobody has time for anything. And then people moving into certain areas don't know how to approach, to volunteer. And they see it and they say, well, maybe I maybe I'll try it, maybe I don't.
There's always a job in the fire service to do, whether it's fire, police, fire, fire, EMS, there's always a job to do. Support squad, which supports the firefighters. When we're out on a call, you know, they're bringing refreshments and stuff to us. You know, no job and fire service is too small. Every job is important, so no one is more important than any other.
And then just basically, you know, we used to do on Monday nights used to be called Quick Call night is every Monday night. They would put the sirens off to make sure to tone, you know, the tone test. And then you would go down into the firehouse at certain at like 7:00 at night. And, you know, that was when the tone test started and you would go through and you do rig checks, make sure all equipment's good working order.
And then, you know, people used to see, you know, the gatherings at the firehouses and, you know, they would stop and show the kids, you know, their kids, the fire trucks and stuff like that. You show a kid at a young age a fire truck. He's going to get interested. That's why I love doing fire prevention at the schools is it gets you involved.
They get you involved with the kids growing up. And, you know, we've had a lot of students through the years. I mean, I've been doing this almost 40 years. And through the years I've watched kids grow up to become firemen. And then when they move on to go toward the paid side of fireman, you know you love it.
Todd
It's like you're watching your kids grow up.
Jen
That's so cool. What are the kinds of things you're thinking about and talking about?
Todd
A lot of the schools, we do the fire safety and, stuff like that. And the best part is, is when you go to an emergency and one of the kids that you taught fire safety and you go to emergency, and this kid goes, I remember, you know, I told my mom and dad, we had to go to a meeting place because their house was filled up with smoke.
And it's like, okay, I am making a difference. And that's what you want to do. You want to make a difference. And just that little thing right there, is that it makes it all worth it. It makes it. It makes it worth it where you made an impression on somebody, a positive impression on somebody to continue and possibly grow up to become a firefighter or EMS.
Jen
It sounds like this has happened to you more than once.
Todd
Quite a few times. Quite a few times. Like I said, I've been doing this for 40 years, so I've seen a lot and been all over the place, done a lot of training. And I always, when I, when I have a bad situation, when I have a bad outcome on on a, especially an EMS call, I will research why I had a bad outcome.
And, you know, 9.9 times out of ten, you know, I've done everything right. You know, that could possibly be done. And it's just the man upstairs wanted ‘em. And I, it's like, you can't take it personally, although I do. And but I always try to figure out, okay, I talk it out, I talk it with coworkers.
Most of the times I've never done anything wrong is that you did everything right. It just was out of our hands. We've done everything possible. And, you know, to our, you know, our expertise at that point, our level of training that we can do. And sometimes you lose them. But you just you just go on to the next one you put in the back of your mind, you go on to the next one and say, okay, you know, I'm making a difference.
And sometimes you're there just for the family and not, you know, not the patient. And you have to treat both. So it's hard when you go to a scene is, you're treating the patient but you also got to treat the family that's there too. You have to keep an eye on them. So it's you're constantly scanning around what's going, you know, your surroundings or what's going on.
Jen
The family members or maybe feeling panicked or feeling shock. What kind of things are you looking out for? Because I feel like those are two really different channels for your mind to have to be on at once.
Yeah. That's why you always work with a partner. Your partner's always got your back. Your partner is the one that's always looking around while you're tending to what you got to tend to. You know, it's like you need to remain calm. You need to. You need to bring calm into the chaos. And it's you as the EMT or firefighter or chief, you know, lieutenant captains or whatever.
You guys are the ones that have to control the scene. Because if you go in there, you know, not paying attention to everything, somebody's going to get hurt or worse. But, you know, as a volunteer, it's like you got to community members, everybody looks out for each other. So on the volunteer side, which is great, you have multiple people there at the same time that can deal with the different things going on. You know that on a volunteer side you have backup, versus the commercial side.
Jen
That's really interesting to think about, working with partners and with the team. And I'm imagining you get a lot of different people in a volunteer group. Are there characteristics you've noticed over the years that are like good qualities for someone to have? Like if someone were listening and were like, do I have what it takes to be a volunteer?
Todd
You know, really never know until you try it. And that's the thing with the volunteers is, you know, if you're willing to do it, the most courage you can have is to join. That's the bravest thing you can do, because that's the first step.
And, you know, like I said, there's all kinds of jobs in the fire service that you can do on a volunteer basis. And, everything is important. You could be the secretary, you could be the treasurer, you know, and you be the one running the drills. You won't know until you put yourself out there to see if you can do it.
And we have people that, you know, come in and like, yeah, I'm going to take the EMT class, I'm going do this, I'm gonna do that. And then all of a sudden they start doing it's like, you know what just really isn't for me? Is there something else I can do? And it's it's to want to help, to want and to do something.
Like you said, there's there's situations where, you know, you don't know if you're going to be able to do this or not, but you won't know until you try. Taking that first step is the best thing you can do.
Like I said Monday night, everybody's after firehouses. Stop by, stop by your local firehouse, talk to your fire chief. Talk to your, you know, EMS workers. Talk to anybody sitting in front of firehouse. Especially I call them the old timers, which I'm getting there.
Listen to their stories, listen to, you know, and talk because you'll learn a lot. It's valuable. You don't know what you have until you do it, until you try it and, just just do it.
The hardest thing is that first step to stop there. So you'll have, you know, thirty eyes looking and you're like, who is this person? And then why don't you introduce yourself to, hey, I want to know more about this volunteering. I want to know more, how I can go about volunteering and helping my community.
And, those just don't pull you aside and say,. Hey, hey, here's an application. Sit down. We'll talk about it. And, as you're filling out the application, we'll talk about it.
Summertime, you have the doors open at the firehouse, you're all hanging out the firehouse. It's like one big family. We'll have a cookout and stuff like that. And you know, people would swing by and stop. You know, you new to the area? Hey, I'm new to the area. I live up on such and such a road. And you get to talk and and say, hey, you know, you ever volunteer for no. And I've always wanted to. Well, what are you waiting for?
No, no better time than the present. Do it. And, as we talked in the beginning, the volunteer service is dwindling because of time restraints. Everybody's got to work. Two jobs, sometimes three jobs, like me.
But I still, even on my days off, I find time to volunteer. And even though I work in the paid EMS side of it, the commercial side of it, I get more satisfaction from the volunteering than I do with, you know, the paid.
Jen
It sounds like this work has really connected you to the community. Both the community of people doing the work around you and then also the people that you're serving. Have you always had that in your life? Has that always been about in part since you've done this so long?
Todd
I think so growing, like I say, growing up around a firehouse, growing up in the community. And my dad was always, you know, he's in, he was in construction and farming and, you know, you would always help the neighbors out. You know, it's like you you go and go past, you see neighbors like I do lawn mowing, too.
And I have a landscape business. I went to a call at this house and the guy's lawn is high and and realize, okay, he's been sick for a while. So I'll go over there and I just mow as on and I look for anything in return.
Just mowed the lawn to be, you know, be friendly. And that's what neighbors are supposed to do. And, so it's just I've had it my whole life and, you know, unfortunately, my dad got hurt at a, you know, I was young, I was only 16 at the time and 15, 16 years old at the time. My dad got, you know, injured in a farm accident.
So I was actually the first one there to provide medical training at 16. So that kind of, like, shaped me, you know, shaped my mind to want to be better at what I do. So I just keep advancing training, advance and training as you go, to try to be the best you can be for the most positive outcome on a call that can happen on the EMS side.
Same thing with firefighting. You know, you start off as a, as a, exterior firefighter who fights fire from the outside and you go interior again, more training. And then, you know, from interior you work and becoming a lieutenant, a captain, and then eventually a chief. I mean captain, captain role in fire service. I think it's the best role, because you can still go interior and you still have the authority to direct others what to do. And that's that's my thing. I love being a captain so I can still go inside.
Jen
The story you shared about your father, that brought me to another question, which is like, in addition to that, have you had other opportunities in your life where you got to be on the receiving end of this kind of kindness, response, service that you're providing to others?
Todd
Yeah, during that time, I became really good friends with some of the EMS workers that were in a neighboring town because of where he was. We became friends, and the one woman who basically kept me under control because I was losing it because I'm, you know, 16 years old.
Seeing that happen, it's like, it's devastating. And, so we end up eventually working on a squad together, and we've remained friends to this day.
A lot of calls you go to, you become friends with the patient, with the families, and you just, you know, you check on them now and then and and you see them. “Hey, how are you doing?” And it's like, you know, that's what brings in the community together.
You know, neighbor helping neighbor. So it's something that, you know, I've seen, you know, and then seeing people come and, you know, help my family out. And just seeing how they conducted themselves and say, you know, one day I'm going to be like that.
And, you know, hopefully yesterday.
Jen
That feeling of connection to neighbors. I think that's the thing that a lot of people long for and wish for, and they may not know how to get it. But one thing I'm hearing you're saying is that, part of it is to put yourself out there, to be someone who shows up. And I think a lot of times we don't know what the people around us need.
But here in the work you do, you know when people need something because they call a number and then they call the helpers and then the helpers can show up. So that sounds like it's really been that connecting piece for you.
Todd
Yeah. It's opened a lot of doors for me, like you don't, you know, go there to, you know, to look for a job or look for, you know, anything else, you just go there to help these people, and they remember you. And if you make a good impression on them and they're going to remember you and, and, you know, they'll be talking to their neighbors, you know, you need something done.
So and so does this. You know, because you get a rapport with them and you start telling them about your life, and you start to tell them about what you do for a living? You know what? You know, like I said, that your volunteer service has, you know, the carpentry, the plumbers, the you know, the excavation work, the you know, the electricians, you know, it's got a variety of people.
So it's like they remember that and know past your name on to so-and-so, you know, who might need something done in their house or, you know, might need their roof done. Oh, yeah. Oh, they were talking about this when doing a roofing, you know, and you say, well, where do you, you know, they'll overhear you talking to somebody else.
So yeah, I was, I was on the roof. I had to climb off the ladder to come to the call and like, and then they're like, well, why you're on the roof. So I'm a roofer and and so it, it, you know in the community it, it spreads.
Jen
Yeah. It sounds like community at its best. Really.
Todd
Exactly.
It used to be, you know, Joe Schmo down the road was was, you know, he's having a problem with his barn falling down or the roof leaking.
Everybody was like, you buy the material, we’ll come over on a weekend and bang it out for you. I still have that mentality where I'll come and help you out. I don't care, I'm not looking for anything in return. It's just the way I am. And I just wish more people would be like that.
And unfortunately, the way the world's been going lately is everybody's for themselves. That's why we can't get the volunteers the way we used to get the volunteers.
Jen
There's some constraints there both in, like, the mentality and also like the financial circumstances, like you mentioned earlier. I'm also thinking, often when upsetting difficult things happen, I'm thinking about the workers on the scene and how in addition to the patient and the family, they also have this experience kind of imprinted on them for better or for worse.
And you talked about how after a difficult call, the way you process with your community, colleagues, is that something you've learned how to deal with?
Todd
Yeah, we, we lean on each other. And it's funny you say it like that. And there's, an organization: Perfectly Broken. It's responders helping responders. Brian Knapp, who's the chief of the Rhinebeck Fire Department, he started this program, and it's ballooned, you know, people struggling with calls,l struggling. I mean, it's like war. You have PTSD. We have it too. There's sights and stuff that we see that we can't get out of our heads. And you have little triggers that will trigger it. And by talking it out and talking with people, it helps us be able to cope with it.
You know, like the, you know, situation when my dad, you know, with his arm getting amputated out from the farm accident, I went to a call last year that it was almost the same, similar incident.
And I looked down and I actually saw my dad's image at first and then, you know, like, shook it off and then continued on working. So it's like little triggers like that. And, and then after he got done, I, you know, I, I called, you know, we have a group of people that with Perfectly Broken, you know, different people that we would call and talk to and we would talk it out and it helps you cope.
So there are people out there that you can talk to. And that's part of the reason why the volunteers sometimes quit is because you know, they were brought up in a generation where nobody talked about anything. And now, you know, you talk about how you're feeling, you're talking about what you're thinking and, you know, you want to keep them EMTs, you want to keep them people active.
And by talking it out and talking to your peers and talking to, you know, your colleagues, you know, it helps you cope because you know you're not alone. It brings the community people together because, you know, you got a neighbor down the road, he belongs to the service, you know, the fire service, too. And you call and say, hey, you know, I had a bad call the other night. It's just, hey, I want to talk to you. No problem. Come on down. We'll have a cup of coffee, have a beer or whatever, and we'll sit down and we'll chat. And again, it's the community helping the community.
Jen
I'm just so grateful that you have that support. That's so important.
Todd
Yeah, it's came on in the last I say five years here. When Covid hit was a big turning point in EMS. And be honest with you, there were points where I wanted to give it up. You, when you dealt with a lot of death. And, you know, we transferred a lot of people who died and a lot of it, you know, we transfer from one hospital to, to, to a higher level care hospital, only to find out they died two days later. And it's like, you know, it made you so frustrated because you're talking with the patient, you're talking, you know, carrying on a conversation with them.
I mean, they're weak. They're frail or what have you. And then you find out they took a turn for the worse within a couple of days. Like, how was that? He was, he was fine. So Covid, you know, caused us to lose a lot of EMS workers because they got to a point where they couldn't handle it anymore.
And it's that's part of when Perfectly Broken got developed in, in the northern part of the county here, by Brian Knapp because he saw, he saw the writing and saying, hey, we can't keep losing people. We can't keep losing good people. And, so as we try to build our ranks again, you know, we're slowly but surely building them.
And like we said before, stop by a firehouse, join. You know, you don't know what you can do until you try it. But it puts less stress on the on, the older responders going, okay, I have somebody new that, you know, I, I'm going to mentor. I'm going to, you know, help them along and we're going to guide them and, you know, protect them.
And, you know, one day hopefully they can carry that on. It's like paying it forward. And that's the way you know, I look at it too is, you know I try to pay it forward.
Jen
Is there anything that I haven't asked you about that you want us to know?
Todd
Volunteer service is the greatest service in the world. And it's it's you know, I just say this, you know, it's the heart of a volunteer is the strongest. And you can't break the heart of a volunteer. No matter what you put them through, you're not going to break their heart because it's the most satisfaction job, you know, and just if you happen to use the services to say thank you.
Todd
Or you see a fireman just thank him or an EMS worker just thank them. I mean, like, you will be sitting at, at, you know, drive through at, ready coffee or something, trying to get some coffee and, you know, EMS workers, we do 12 in 20 four hour shifts, so we're always drinking coffee.
I'm a coffee-haulic. Like, my blood type is dark roast. I just actually saw an article the other day where somebody was complaining because the EMS workers were getting refreshments, getting drinks, and they were like, shouldn't you be out doing something instead of sitting on the side of the road? If you realize what we do on a daily basis, you know, especially on the commercial side, is you're running constantly. And that five minute break, you just re you know, you're recharging your body.
All right, let's go. Let's see who else we can help. And, when that pager goes off, the adrenaline goes off. And then it's like, oh, we get to go, we get to make a difference again. And that's the main thing is you're making a difference in this world. You're making a difference in somebody’s.
You see people on their worst day and you try to make it better. And, most of the time that happens, which is great. And you get down to, you know, we'll walk out of here, out of the hospital sometimes, especially on a successful call, we walk out of the hospital, we high five going, yes, we did it.
You know, we made that difference and that keeps you going for another day. So it's it's a positive thing. Definitely a positive thing.
Jen
Well, I want to thank you for your service. And thank you for using your day off from all your other jobs to volunteer and for being one of the helpers that comes to our rescue. And thanks for taking the time to talk to me today.
Todd
You're very welcome. I enjoyed it
Jen
Thanks for listening to this episode of Hudson Valley Story Catcher. Very special thanks to Todd Van Buskirk for sharing his story with us today.
If you've been thinking about how you can help your own community, remember Todd's advice. The bravest thing you can do is take that first step. Stop by your local firehouse on a Monday night. Talk to the old timers and see how you can make a difference.
You can find more information about this project and listen to more stories at: HudsonValleyStorycatcher.com
Until next time, keep your heart open and your ears ready. Every neighbor has a story.