Did you know that Emergency 911 calls are up 13% in the county? And calls have been going up steadily over the past few years. On February 17^th we welcomed Kristen Eagleston, Chief of Operations, Ernest Stonick, President and members of the Goshen EMS to our morning meeting. Kristen explained that part of the reason for this increase has been the four very busy local nursing homes, thousands of visitors to Legoland and workers at the new warehouses that have opened in our area.  Goshen EMS is primarily staffed by EMTs and support personnel, who can handle many of the calls that come in, but the need is great for Paramedics who can provide next level Advanced Life Support care. A program is being developed in conjunction with SUNY Orange to meet the over 1000 clinical and classwork hours required to prepare for ALS certification. The expectation is with the new program, our reliance on outside of area response teams will be less.  Goshen EMS depends on donations and grants for their many operating costs which include paid staff, materials, vehicle maintenance and building repairs The Rotary donates to Goshen EMS yearly, if you can, consider a personal donation to this important community resource.