Dear Rescate Members,

Rescate is making some very exciting changes to how we are staffing the Center and supporting our Members and the entire Community.

Effective Tuesday, September 12, we will be having a new Administrator starting with us. Her name is Cristal Graterol and she has been volunteering at Rescate for several months. Cristal is studying for a degree in Hospital Microbiology, is completely bilingual (English and Spanish) and is both CPR and AED certified. She will be on site at Rescate from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday. Her work will focus on assisting people with Gold Card memberships, assuring facility maintenance, overseeing materials management/inventory control, teaching the EMT's additional English skills, and providing translation support to people in a crisis.

We have also adjusted the schedule of Alejandro (Alex) Nolazco who is one of our newer dispatcher/EMT's. He will be working Monday thru Friday mornings to assist Cristal (along with his routine dispatcher duties). Alex is gaining very good English skills and has been very helpful with translation assistance.

This means we will have Gold Cards available along with other member assistance from 9 until 6 pm Monday through Friday (the only exception would be if we are overwhelmed with emergencies and Cristal or Alex had to jump into an ambulance to assist).  The Thrift store also sells Gold Cards so if this happens when they are open, please check with them for assistance.

Finally, and even more importantly, the Board has agreed with our Commandante, Jessy Guerrero, that we have an obligation to the community to more assertively strengthen our Pre-hospital medical services. To accomplish this, Jessy will be working 24 hour on/48 hour off shifts (rotating through the three schedules) so that he can provide more hands-on training to the EMT staff. It is Jessy's belief that empowering the staff with better skills and enhanced knowledge is best done by his being more present in the field. He will also be available to the teams for consultation during his off hours. This means that Cristal will be taking over most of Jessy's administrative tasks.

On behalf of the Rescate SC Board - welcome Cristal and Alex. We also thank Jessy for his help in planning for these changes and for his leadership in making them happen.

Looking forward to your feedback and questions!

Glenn Lippman, MD
Rescate SC Board President
Cell- 602-885-2069

Should you need to renew your Gold Card Membership click here.