Atlantic Beach Rescue trains for the usual and unusual

Volunteer unit partners with Nassau County aviation

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The sound of whirring blades and seeing a helicopter landing adjacent to the Atlantic Beach Bridge may appear uncommon to some people, however for the Atlantic Beach Rescue squad, it is just another Saturday morning of training.

The 38-member all-volunteer emergency response unit partnered on Aug. 10 with the Nassau County Police Department’s Aviation Unit to learn how to respond to a medical emergency that requires a chopper.

Assistant Chief Jonathan Kohan explained the importance of this specific training, which the rescue squad has been doing for roughly a decade. “This squad trains for the usual and unusual every week,” Kohan said. “Air medical service is a high risk, low frequency event. It’s important for our members to understand how to operate and review operations on an annual basis.”

He added that the rescue squad’s drone unit also works with NCPD’s aviation and marine units to help find people reported missing in the water. “Our drones will be surveying the water before their helicopters arrive,” Kohan said. “It’s very important for them to get to know us and vice versa in a non-emergency situation such as this so we’re prepared for what to do in an emergency situation when our adrenaline is flowing.”

NCPD’s aviation unit includes three helicopters that operate 20 hours per day from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tactical flight officer Mark Vitale said that there are usually two people in each helicopter and the unit performs other operations such as surveillance and searches. “If anybody thinks they need us, don’t hesitate to reach out,” Vitale said. “You can reach us through your local police.”

In case of a medical emergency on Atlantic Beach that requires a helicopter, there are three helicopter landing spots in the village: south of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, the Sands Beach Club parking lot and the baseball fields at Silverpoint Beach Club. Aviation pilot Glenn Bammam has been with the unit for two years and noted that the bigger the space, the better it is for the helicopter. “Landing the helicopter is the easy part,” Bammam said. “I’m more worried about taking off from the site.” He added that factors such as wind, surrounding wires and the amount of weight in the helicopter impact the takeoff.

Rescue squad Chief Avi Golman said that one of the benefits to air medical service is its quickness. “Getting to St. John’s in the summer can sometimes take a good amount of time with traffic,” Golman said. “With a helicopter it can take less than 10 minutes.” Vitale said that a patient could be taken via helicopter from Atlantic Beach to Stony Brook University Hospital in nine minutes and North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset in six minutes. The closest medical center to Atlantic Beach is St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway.

Kohan noted how Atlantic Beach’s location plays an important role in having a helicopter training session. “Given the geography of where we are, helicopter use becomes even more important due to the time it can take getting to a medical center in the summer,” he said. “We operate in an unstable environment and that is why it’s important to have these helicopters available to us.”

For more information on Atlantic Beach Rescue call (516) 371-2348 or go to, facebook.com/abrescue360.