BRATTLEBORO — Independence Day was Theresa Vesper's lucky day. During the festivities leading up to the July 4 fireworks at Living Memorial Park, Vesper's name was drawn as the winner of Rescue Inc.'s “Raffle for Rescue.”
As a result, the Vernon resident will be driving a new 2012 Subaru Impreza 5-door hatchback.
Rescue employees, board members and volunteers, along with a half dozen retail locations, sold more than $41,000 worth of raffle tickets in a successful fund-raising campaign that was launched in April.
The vehicle, supplied by Brattleboro Subaru at cost, was part of Rescue's unit Brattleboro's July 4 parade, and had been displayed at Gallery Walks and other locations. Final sales took place on the morning of the holiday at Rescue headquarters.
Top ticket sellers were Ronnie Kaufman (67 tickets), Brian Patno (48 tickets) and Sally Brunton (37 tickets) - all paramedics for Rescue Inc. In order, they will have their choice of a pair of Red Sox tickets, a 19-inch flat screen television donated by Aaron's, and an iPod Shuffle donated by Brown Computers.
Rescue is an independent, non-profit organization, not a government agency.
“As such, when insurance and Medicare/Medicaid proceeds don't cover our full costs of doing business, we need to reach out to the public with various fund raising efforts,” said Mark Considine, Rescue's chief of operations. “And the response to this raffle has been just terrific.”
Rescue Inc. is also currently in the midst of its subscription campaign, by which residents may sign up at a flat annual fee to receive coverage for the cost of any ambulance services not covered by insurance.
The subscription fee is $50 for people who have medical insurance, including Medicare, and $100 if any household member does not have insurance. The subscription covers three medically necessary local emergency calls and three physician-approved, medically necessary, local non-emergency transfers over the course of a 12-month period.
For those with insurance, the subscription pays any balances that the insurance does not pay. For those without insurance, the subscription pays the entire balance.
Considine said that for someone who required three ambulance calls in a year, the total cost could be as much as $1,500.
“For an uninsured person, our subscription plan would pay the full amount,” he said. “For an insured person, their plan might still require a co-payment of 20 percent, or the cost might go toward a deductible - but again, with a subscription they do not have to pay anything.”
For full details and restrictions, refer to the packet that Rescue Inc. has mailed to households, or contact the Rescue Inc. office.
Considine said that the raffle, the subscription drive and other fund-raising efforts by Rescue Inc. also help to provide ongoing staff training and enable the organization to purchase needed state of the art medical equipment, so as to be able to provide the best possible rapid-response service.