When the first call came in on Thursday, June 29, at 10:25 a.m., the duty crew sped away in the first in line ambulance thinking nothing of it. But then the calls kept coming, one after the next; each subsequent call was instantly covered by more TVAC members, until finally there were a whopping five active emergency calls at the same time, all covered by TVAC members.

Though TVAC very frequently has doubles, triples and sometimes even quadruples, this is the first quintuple of the year for the ambulance corps, and it was covered effortlessly despite occurring in the middle of the work day. TVAC is an entirely volunteer organization composed of members of the community, all of whom have full lives and other responsibilities, yet who do not hesitate to drop everything when an emergency arises and their neighbors need help.

Abby Cooper is a lieutenant of personnel at Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps (TVAC) and a reserve member of the Bergenfield Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BVAC). She is also a resident of Bergenfield and a proud mother of five kids.