At 85, EMT is one of York Red Cross’ heroes
Published: October 22, 2007
Elizabeth Regel had never driven an ambulance.
But this was an emergency.
The alarm had sounded, and firefighters and a medical crew from East Prospect Fire Co. were gearing up to go to Long Level. But there was no ambulance driver.
That’s when all eyes turned to Regel, who had gone to the fire station — where her son, Mick, is a firefighter — after hearing the alarms. She just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
“They asked me to drive the ambulance,” Regel recalled. “Poor, dumb me. I got in the ambulance. I never drove an ambulance, but I knew how to drive a car.”
That was more than 35 years ago. She became an emergency medical technician shortly after that first ambulance drive.
Today, Regel — an East Prospect resident mainly known as “Toots” or “Tootie” — is an EMT with Canadochly Ambulance Club, which her son helped start several years after her first emergency drive.
She’s 85 years old. And she’s a hero.
Regel is one of 10 people being honored as “Heroes of York County” by the local chapter of the American Red Cross, located at 724 S. George St. in York City.
They will be recognized during the organization’s fifth annual awards breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at Wisehaven Banquet & Expo Center in Windsor Township.
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