Answering the call

ST. IGNATIUS — When people look back on Valerie Umphrey’s legacy, the record books will have it wrong. Recently awarded for more than 20 years of volunteer emergency medical service, Umphrey admitted it has been closer to 30 years.

But she wants everyone to know that she is not the only stalwart on the ambulance team and that, despite her recent notoriety, she isn’t even the longest serving volunteer.  

As the older members of the team have aged, they have needed fresh blood to join the crew.

Umphrey didn’t have to look far.

Umphrey’s daughter, Gwen Couture, said EMS has been a part of her life since she was a kid. Couture, the director of the Mission Valley Ambulance, is a part of the second generation of younger volunteers on the ambulance’s roster.

We have a better bedside manner because we care and we are doing this as volunteers.

We’re not getting paid. We’re doing it because we want to help the community.


Teri Miller, 
Mission Valley Ambulance Volunteer

She’s in familiar company — several of her siblings, her husband Todd and her parents are all part of the team. In two years, they expect a member of the third generation will join the crew, a grandson who has played the patient in many training courses throughout the years.

There are 14 members on the active roster — seven are from the Umphrey clan. However, the situation isn’t abnormal for the Mission Valley Ambulance. The whole group is mostly made from a core of three families.

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