Bridgewater Persons of the Year: Bradley Gardens Rescue Squad

When we asked readers who they would want to see recognized as Bridgewater's 2013 Person of the Year, the response was swift and strong: the members of the Bradley Gardens Rescue Squad.

The overwhelming support for the squad was surprising—but it became clearer when we asked Squad Chief Chris Ireland about the squad's calls in 2013. 

"We answered 383 calls in 2013 with our members spending over 1,500 hours on the road taking care of the sick and injured," he said. "In total, our volunteers provided over 50,000 hours of being on call and waiting to help those in need."

The squad's activities also include a cadet program for teens, with the squad's cadet group taking first place at a competition of cadet teams at the New Jersey First Aid Council convention.

Members answering calls in 2013 include: David Achinstein, Joseph Afzali, Pavan Amin, Pujish Amin, Aneeqa Babar, Varun Bindiganavile, Dan Calligaro, Juliana Calligaro, Lindsay Chabak, Wind Chen, Matthew Chiang, Kristen Dell’Osa, Kevin Gross, Rob Hanlon, Hubert Hsu, Chris Ireland, Evan Jin, Jason Kreyling, Rohan Kulkarni, Stephanie Kurzweil, Phil Langon, Skyler Le, Stephanie Lin, Priya Mansukharni, April McMorrow,  Evan McMurray, Kelsey Opalack, Sachin Parikh, Brianna Retsis, Nick Rinaldo, John Schulz, Mansi Sheth, Jeffrey Taylor, Jack Thompson, Gabe Trepiccione, Kyle Williams, Heather Wolf, Scott Woodruff, Stewart Woodruff and Amulya Yalamanchili.

In graciously accepting recognition, Chief Ireland pointed out the Bradley Gardens squad is "no different than the other rescue squads within our town"—a comment we fully agree with.

And he added the squad welcomes more nearby residents to stop and check out the squad.

"We can use more members, with information found at www.rescue39.org or 908-725-0761," he said.