SUN CITY CENTER, Fla. — Sun City Center is a 55-plus community in southern Hillsborough County. There are about 22 thousand people that live in the area, and more than 400 of those volunteer for the Sun City Center Emergency Squad.
It's the last of it's kind in the state of Florida. An all-volunteer emergency squad serving the people who live in Sun City Center. "Average age on the squad is over 70," said Sun City Center Emergency Squad chief Mike Bardell.
The squad started 60 years ago when the closest hospital to this community was Tampa General Hospital. It was nearly 30 miles away and I-75 still wasn't complete. Bardell says it could take longer than an hour to get there.
"They got together and they formed a group of people to be volunteers to help other people," Bardell said. "And that has become really synonymous of what we do of neighbors helping neighbors."
Bardell says many of the volunteers, just like himself, needed something to do in retirement. "So you've got to find something that makes you want to get up and want to do something and this is very appealing for a certain amount of people that want to help their fellow man," he said.
"I love it," said volunteer Linda Fisher. "This is a great place to volunteer and I'm enjoying what I'm doing and it's a great way to give back to the community."
Even though volunteers don't get paid, money to equip and run the squad 24/7 comes from community HOA fees. Bardell says residents keep approving the fees year after year to make sure someone's there when they need them.
"In that, we've also saved the county, according to their own statistics, about $4.5 million dollars a year," Bardell explains. "So we think that's relevant and we're glad we can do it, but we're here for our community."
"There's a lot of people out in the community that have no one here," said Charmain of the Board Pam Zion. "No family, no one. And we're there to help them, especially. I mean we're there to help the whole community, but there's a lot of people that have no family, no one here and they count on us."
Especially in scary times, like during the Covid-19 pandemic, Bardell says the squad could've shut down.
"A very scary time, but the squad, they talked and they said they wanted to go ahead and continue because people are still going to have heart attacks, have strokes and fall down and they were going to need assistance and so without regard for their own personal safety... they did," Bardell said.
The squad has a training center, headquarters, four ambulances, two wheelchair vans and more than 400 volunteers of neighbors helping neighbors.
They are planning to celebrate the 60th anniversary in late February.