Photo: Christopher Healy

About Us

Welcome to Nyack Community Ambulance Corps, a volunteer organization in Rockland County, in the lower Hudson Valley of New York State.

We are neighbors helping neighbors, giving our time, energy, and love to keep our community safe around the clock.

Our members’ ages range from young high school students in our Youth Corps, to men and women 60+ still actively responding to emergency calls or contributing in many other ways to our organization, which has been protecting and serving the historic Nyack Village since 1939.

Members come from every profession, some with a background or future plans in medicine, but most with no medical experience or aspirations at all. Every active riding member is thoroughly trained, at corps expense, to the level required. Ongoing CME (Continuing Medical Education) classes and drills keep members certified and up to date in every aspect of emergency care.

In addition to training, both for initial certification and ongoing requirements, there are many other members’ incentives and benefits (find out more under the Join Us tab). Opportunities for service and leadership abound, as the corps continually renews itself with new members of every age and stage of life.

We are your neighbors, your friends, your family, the person you just passed on the street. We work on Main Street, and on Wall Street. When the people we encounter thank us for our service, we feel proud, but also very grateful to have the training and the ability to respond in a crisis. Volunteering is a gift we give, and an even greater gift that we receive.

Administration & Board

Administrative Officers
President: William McDowell
Administrative Vice President/Secretary: Steve Borton
Chief of Operations: Ivan Guerra
Lieutenant of Training/Privacy Officer: Willie White

Board Members-at-Large
Jeremy Griffel
Renee Jersey
James Sarna

Associates
Medical Director: William Greenhut DO, MPH, FACEP
Corps Attorney: Duncan Lee
Chaplain: Rev. Richard Gressle

Operational Officers

Chief of Department (Vice President – Operations): Ivan Guerra
Captain: Jeremy Griffel
Lieutenant of Training: Willie White
Lieutenant (supplies): James Sarna

The Administrative Officers and Board of Directors are elected from the general body of the membership. There are specific by-laws which identify the duties and terms of members who serve on the Board.

A Proud History, 1939 – Present

Most of Rockland was still rural in 1939 when a group of young men gathered and formed the Rockland Emergency Ambulance Corps. In October of 1939, the organization changed its name to Nyack Community Ambulance Corps.

Our first Ambulance was a used 1925 Franklin, purchased for fifty dollars. Our service area encompassed Blauvelt, Orangeburg, Tappan, Sparkill, Palisades, Grandview, Nanuet, Camp Shanks, The Nyacks, Valley Cottage-Congers, Rockland Lake, and West Nyack. In those years, the corps handled an average 21 calls and 560 miles traveled each month.

In 1941, Violet Doerzaph became the first female member of NCAC, and the first female ambulance worker in New York State.
As the population of the service area increased a new ambulance was needed. In 1948 a brand new Cadillac ambulance was delivered at a cost of $6,637.23. But the corps still did not have a home.

In 1947 the corps purchased a parcel of land for $750.00. Plans were drawn up, a mortgage for $10,000 was obtained and the first meeting in the new building on Sixth and Midland was held on July 14, 1949.

That year, the corps responded to over 600 calls and traveled over 12,000 miles. Since that time there have been three building renovations to accommodate the growing membership and fleet of emergency vehicles. In the years since 1949, new ambulance corps were formed in Rockland County, and Nyack’s service area was reduced.

Today, the Nyack Community Ambulance Corps responds to over 1800 calls to duty each year. We now have three ambulances, Two SUV Command Vehicles, two Electric Cars (Special Events) and two mountain bikes (Special Events), each of them carrying the equipment needed to provide emergency care to our patients. NCAC has responded heroically to large-scale emergencies such as the school bus and train accident in Valley Cottage, the Brinks robbery in Nyack, the Tallman Towers fire and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Just as we did sixty years ago, we stand ready, day and night, to protect the health and life of our community, and remain committed to the highest standard of excellence in the care we provide to our families, friends and neighbors. To be part of this proud history, join us.