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ABQ Fire & Rescue -Station #18 (Taylor Ranch)

Starting in October, 2018, NWOC and AFR began a Partnership.  Most closely we work with Station #18 and Captain Max Heyman.  Additionally, we work with AFR's HEART Program helping community members who want help.

Our partnership with the Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Station #18 is blooming in unexpected ways.  We offered services such as tutoring their children, assisting them in neighborhood activities and Can't Be Home for the Holidays meals.  They came back with stories about how 90+% of their calls were from people who needed on-going assistance that they could not provide.

 

Our member Robert Martinez offered help from his local church, which always is looking for people needing help, regardless of their religion.  In further discussing this opportunity, we are finding that providing "bridge" assistance to our AF&R Station 18 will be the help they most need in serving our community.  Our ongoing efforts are detailed in our monthly Newsletters.

Say you, too, want to start an AFR Partnership

Here's How It Starts . . .

 

The Northwest Optimist Club President Frank "Corky" Frederick asked that our partnership with the Albuquerque Fire Rescue be chronicled so others might learn from our pioneering efforts and develop their own partnerships with other Fire Rescue stations.

Step 1 - Start at the Top!

In 2017 NWOC had unsuccessfully tried to meet with our local Taylor Ranch fire station but we successfully met with a member of Rio Rancho's Fire Department.  Those talks stalled a bit.

 

In 2018 the Optimist Club of Albuquerque (OCA) started a recognition program for Albuquerque's Fire Rescue team members fashioned after the Albuquerque PoliceOfficer Recognition Program started by the Sunport Optimist Club many years ago.  NWOC figured we would join in on the OCA program, just as so many Albuquerque service clubs had followed Sunport's lead with the police officers.

 

In trying to figure out how to replicate OCA's new program, in August 2018 we contacted AFR's Public Information Officer Tom Ruiz.  He was immensely helpful.  He explained the cultural differences between police officers and firefighters, and how recognizing a single police officer would be perfectly appropriate, it would be very difficult in the AFR since they always work as a team.

 

Via email Deputy Chief Ruiz introduced us to Station #18 Captain Max Heyman who was out of town and to Battalion Chief Jeremiah Hansen who kindly met with us in September.  

 

We told him about the Optimist Club in Albquerque that in the 1990s was entirely made up of Albuquerque firefighters, and which launched the "Can't Be Home for Christmas" program now copied around the country.  

 

We bounced around possible ways in which our Optimist Club in northwest Albuquerque might help our local fire/rescue Station #18.  Our vision was to "adopt" the fire station and their families and to help out.

Step 2 - Work Locally

Battalion Chief Hansen put us in touch with Captain Heyman with whom we scheduled a breakfast meeting with him and his shift of six men. We have come to learn that there are 3 shifts: A, B, and C.  They work two 24-hour days on and 4 days off, so each week their workday schedule changes.

Our initial conversation had NWOC repeating ideas we had considered based on our rudimentary understanding of fire/rescue work, our club members' skills, and our super-duper Optimist International (OI) liability insurance:

 

  • Tutor their children

  • Cheer at their children's athletic and/or academic events when the parents were otherwise committed

  • Facilitate community events, such as Fire Station Open Houses and/or garage sales

  • Provide Can't Be Home for the Holidays meals for the fire/rescue personnel on duty during various holidays

  • Assist their high school sophomores in attending HOBY

  • Encourage their secondary student children in participating in our Scholarship Contests.

 

When we met October 17, we found that none of our preconceived ideas met the needs of Shift C at Station #18.  Instead, Captain Max Heyman suggested we might be able to help with the seniors and others they are often called upon to assist but who may need assistance Fire Rescue cannot provide.

 

They recognized our ability to interface with other local service organizations in ways that they could not with their 2-on/4-off schedules and race at the drop-of-a-hat pace.

 

We're pleased to help with the neighborhood's people in need that they find and from whom they receive permissing to refer to us.  One of our members is part of another local organization eager and able to assist the elderly and shut-in people who may need help in ways the Fire Rescue people cannot.

 

We then realized that each member of the Northwest Optimist Club is involved with several other organizations, in addition to the other local Optimist Clubs.  We're pleased to put our networks to work helping solve Station #18's problems.

Step 3 - Evolve a Plan

We plan to continue meeting monthly to develop plans that best utilize the skills, talents and connections of the Northwest Optimist Club members while serving Albuquerque's Fire Rescue Station #18 as we both meet the needs of our community.

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