Bay Shore Brightwaters Rescue Ambulance (BSBRA) is a not for profit volunteer ambulance squad, serving the communities of Bay Shore, Brightwaters and West Bay Shore. Our membership includes 195 members, ranging from dispatchers to paramedics. In 2008 we answered 3,456 calls, and our response rate was 98.55%. The average for the Town of Islip 95.37%. Most recently our response rate for May and June 2009, was 100%.  Outreach to the community is extremely important and consistently we are finding new ways to reach out and help those in need. This includes adopting families at Thanksgiving and Christmas, hosting Blood Drives for local hospitals and being on standby for local sporting, school and community events. This past year, Bay Shore- Brightwaters Rescue celebrated its 50th birthday holding a community wellness fair picnic free to all.

In the past 4 years BSBRA has made a complete turn around. In 2005, membership consisted of a mere 74 members. Out of 2,653 alarms BSBRA did not respond to 270 of them- having an 87% response rate. Steps were quickly taken to help improve this statistic and overhaul our department. Strong emphasis on retention and recruitment were essential, as well as motivating and keeping old members. Responding to calls quickly and efficiently became a top priority of all.

Today, BSBRA is one of the top responding ambulance corps in the town of Islip. We have 24-hour crew in house, a yearly under 1.5% no response rate, as well as a full and active membership. Emphasis has been placed back on patient care and safety through education and departmental training. We currently have over 15 department committees working on vast array of department, town and community projects.

Community is still the heart of our organization and we proudly participate in the Town of Islip TAC and TAC Medic program and continuously strive to be a positive asset to the Bay Shore-Brightwaters Community.

Just recently, REMSCO has awarded Bay Shore-Brightwaters Rescue Ambulance with Suffolk County Agency of the year.  Along with that, in the beginning of September, Bay Shore-Brightwaters Rescue Ambulance was named the New York State EMS Agency of the Year for 2009!