Organization History

1973

The Glen Oaks VAC was allotted space within the Glen Oaks Village complex. This basement space served as the first operational headquarters. This space also contained a crew ready room and a storage area. Due to the small size of the headquarters, membership meetings were held off site at locations around the community, including Queens Children's Hospital on Commonwealth Blvd.

1976

The organization reached their ability to be financially solvent and rented a storefront location at 248-25 Union Tpke.  This provided a more visible location for community outreach and training, as well as a much improved operational base for their operations.

1982

As the organization continued to expand and improve, GOVAC purchased a residence at Union Tpke and 257th Street. This gave them the ample room they required to ‘stretch out’ and permit multiple groups of members to complete tasks and ambulance operations simultaneously. It also permitted the organization to break away from rising rents that began to plague the area.

1987

Glen Oaks VAC was one of the first group of volunteer EMS organizations to be trained in the use of AEDs

1999  

In the early morning hours of Monday, April 12, 1999 tragedy struck the Glen Oaks Volunteer Ambulance Corps. An electrical fire that started in the basement consumed most of the southern portion of the quarters. The most heavily damaged areas were the basement storage area, bedroom, kitchen, office, and bathroom. The living room sustained heavy water and smoke damage as well, while the dispatch area escaped any major damage.

Thankfully, no one was in quarters at the time of the fire. A passing 105th Precinct sector car was the first to report the incident to the Fire Department.

The Corps remained in service during the rebuilding process (luckily the ambulances were undamaged in the blaze). A special thank you goes out to all of the members who helped in the cleanup and restoration of service, our brother VACs, the NYS Volunteer Ambulance & Rescue Association who had offered material and office space, all of the NYC agencies (OEM, HWY 3, FDNY), Con Edison, Bell Atlantic, and all the others involved in getting us running again.

2004

The new state-of-the-art building was erected to replace the old structure, and it was dedicated on July 18, 2004.

2020