Guilderland Emergency Medical Services

In 1986, the town began a Police Paramedic program hiring police officers who were also New York State certified paramedics. The police medics responded to emergency medical calls within the town to provide advanced life support to local volunteer ambulance services. The idea of the police paramedic program was that since the police officer was already out on patrol it would improve response times to a medical emergency. A condition of being a police officer paramedic was that the police officer had to keep his paramedic status in order to keep their jobs. Over the years, as the civilian paramedic program grew, Guilderland police paramedics were eventually absorbed into the police department as police officers.

The Guilderland Paramedics are still a subdivision of the Guilderland Police Department and known as Guilderland Emergency Medical Services (GEMS). They are dispatched by the Guilderland Communications Division which also dispatches the town police, fire, ambulance and animal control. They work closely with Western Turnpike Rescue Squad, Altamont Rescue Squad, and Five Quad Ambulance responding to emergency calls not only in the town of Guilderland but also in the town of Knox and parts of the State University of New York at Albany (SUNYA) campus.

Guilderland EMS is currently comprised of 21 paramedics, four of which are paramedic supervisors. They are overseen by EMS Coordinator, Tom DeLeon, and answer directly to Dr. Don Doynow who is an active member of the Regional Emergency Medical Organization (REMO) which oversees a five county area in New York State. The Guilderland EMS prides itself on rapid response and professional patient care for the area it serves.