Darien, Connecticut - Post 53

Post 53

An ambulance service, known as "Darien EMS – Post 53" is the only ambulance service in the nation staffed and run entirely by high school student volunteers. The Explorer post is chartered under the Connecticut Yankee Council, and is considered a scouting unit. The service provides emergency care at no cost to the patient, funded entirely by private donations from town residents. Teenagers are allowed to perform patient care due to the fact that Connecticut is one of the few states in the nation which allows Emergency medical technicians to be certified at age 16.

Students will start training while they are in their freshman year of high school. They are elected by current members of Post and then they continue their training supervised by trained adults, Post 53 lets in 20 teenagers a year to join the crew. "Each student receives at least 150 hours of training for basic certification as emergency medical technicians; by their senior year, some even qualify to drive the ambulance."