ELIZABETHTOWN — Heart is willing. The hands, however, are not there.

Elizabethtown Rescue Squad, a fixture here since its charter in January of 1970, will dissolve on July 1. Arthur Bullock, a member since 1978 and chairman of its Board of Directors, said his board voted for the decision recently and with a deep sense of sadness.

“We don’t have the personnel,” he said. “We have the equipment. That’s the only concern.”

Robert M. Bruce, Roy Eugene Lomax and John Charles McClure made up the board at its founding. Bullock, Ethel Davis, Marie Davis, Ennis B. Graham and Myrtle Hill had the task of responsibility in casting those decisive votes for the unfortunate ending.

Chief Shelton Lewis said he and Bullock have had ongoing conversations, discussions in which each knew the time was coming.

“At one time, we were 30-plus members and most everyone pulling calls,” Lewis said. “Over the years, they dwindled on down.”

The roster is at 22, he said, and that includes board members who don’t pull calls. About eight of the nearly two dozen are handling duties, with four of those certified in advanced life support.

“Everybody is pulling two or three times a week to keep the trucks running; that’s where we’re running out of providers to continue on,” Lewis said. “I was pulling a lot of hours, and working as a supervisor with county EMS. That plus a family, it takes a toll.”

David Howell, director of Emergency Medical Services for Bladen County, has kept county officials such as commissioners and County Manager Greg Martin in the loop in preparation for the change. When a volunteer EMS can’t cover its shift, Howell’s team makes adjustments to cover the gap.

As was done when Tar Heel closed its service in 2019, the county will step in for coverage.

“The Bladen County office of Emergency Medical Services has been diligently working with local officials on additional staff in the budget to be put in place by July 1 in order to continue to provide the services that Elizabethtown Rescue Squad has been providing within the community,” Howell said. “Bladen County EMS is currently working on operational plans to fill that loss within the community, working side by side with Chief Shelton Lewis on this transition. There will be no lapse in coverage within the district. The citizens can feel reassured and confident they will have EMS coverage.”

Bullock, an EMT intermediate, said when he joined, “We had five volunteer squads in the county. Kelly, Clarkton, Tar Heel, Elizabethtown and Bladenboro. We didn’t even have paid service. Everything was volunteer. Volunteers used to take care of the whole county.”

But the industry changed over the years. A ride in the ambulance became something that carried a charge, and now is several hundred dollars. A helicopter flight from southeastern North Carolina to a hospital in the Triangle can cost tens of thousands.

Finances, Lewis said, were the tipping point. Howell said communities across the state and country are losing volunteer units like Elizabethtown.

“Somebody that works with county services, they make $17 or $18 an hour,” Lewis said. “And volunteers, when I got in, there wasn’t any compensation. You did it for love of the people. We volunteered. Over the years, it changed, and we compensated our members. Intermediates make about $12, basics $10. But still, you work for the county, you’re making 17 or 18 — that has a contribution to where the volunteer squads have gone.”

Bladenboro, after Elizabethtown’s closure, will be the county’s lone remaining volunteer unit.

“It’s been an ongoing issue for probably a couple of years,” Lewis said. “It’s just gradually gotten worse the last few months. I guess, most of the members, they work county EMS or other counties — the availability of their time to work has dwindled down.

“At the ALS level, it became extremely difficult.”

Better days are remembered fondly.

“I loved helping those who needed it,” Bullock said.

Howell added that, “There’s no better feeling than giving back to your community and knowing you made a difference.”

He, too, has spent time with volunteer units.

Lewis, the chief since 2012, said care that was needed in the community was always provided.

“While everything was going smooth, we worked really good hand in hand with the county,” he said. “If everything is running good and smooth, it ran like it was supposed to.

“It’s like a ball team, as long as everybody is putting forth the effort, you have a successful year.”

For Elizabethtown Rescue Squad, there’s been 50 of them. And it is in the 51st that a sad but unavoidable ending will come.

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.