Lehigh County Aging and Adult Services recently honored first responders at its Unsung Heroes group award ceremony May 2.

This tribute, in honor of Older Americans Month, celebrates older adults in the Lehigh Valley who have displayed exceptional generosity with their time and talents to enrich the lives of others in the community.

According to an essay by Kim Melusky, program analyst with Lehigh County Aging and Adult Services, imagine it is 2:15 a.m. somewhere in Lehigh County, and pagers go off alerting volunteers of an emergency.

After a long day at work, or a long list of day chores, the volunteer simultaneously grabs the pager, listens to the alert message and gets dressed.

All the while, adrenaline begins to focus attention to the tasks ahead.

Or, imagine it is a beautiful, warm Saturday afternoon when thoughts of going to the park to enjoy the flowers, taking a walk on the rail trails, or having a drink with friends take hold.

But these things cannot be for the volunteer first responder who has signed up for a weekend duty crew that necessitates being close to the fire or ambulance station.

The freedom of unlimited choices for the weekend has been sacrificed, in service to the community.

And, after responding to an incident, the work is not yet done.

Gear used to fight a fire, perform a vehicle rescue, or resuscitate a victim must be restored, cleaned and prepared for the next incident that surely will come within the next day or hour.

Continuous education, training, and drills are required to maintain and improve skill levels, necessitating the sacrifice of at least one evening a week, and additional evenings, to attend classes.

Many of the senior volunteers have first responder educational experience exceeding the curriculum of a bachelor’s degree.

These are elements in the lives of the first responder volunteers in our community.

In most cases these senior volunteers have experienced the changes in volunteerism over the years, seeing their ranks diminish in time by a factor of 10.

In 1970, there were around 300,000 volunteer firefighters in Pennsylvania. Today there are around 38,000.

And yet these senior volunteers still choose to serve their community, whether it be as firefighters, fire police, support personnel or EMS responders.

They have been, and still are, the invisible heroes of our community. Some volunteer by hearing the call and showing up, at a moment’s notice, to bring aid and comfort equally to a neighbor or a stranger. Others volunteer their time performing the many administrative and support tasks required to maintain a functional department.

The average resident of Lehigh County rarely considers the significance of the resource represented by our senior first responder volunteers, until the unfortunate day when they need emergency help; and then the expectation is that there will be someone responding immediately.

So, for this reason, it is vital we take the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions these individuals make each and every day in our community.