30 Years of Life-Saving Medical Care: South Shore EMS Celebrates Three Decades of First Responder Services

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Kristen Perfetuo
kperfetuo [at] southshorehealth.org
Ben Shulman, Dealer Principal, Best Automotive; Eugene Duffy, Director of South Shore EMS; William Tollefsen, MD, Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine and Urgent Care, South Shore Health; and Alex Shulman, Dealer Principal, Best Automotive stand alongside an emergency response vehicle donated by Best Automotive to South Shore EMS.
(L to R) Ben Shulman, Dealer Principal, Best Automotive; Eugene Duffy, Director of South Shore EMS; William Tollefsen, MD, Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine and Urgent Care, South Shore Health; and Alex Shulman, Dealer Principal, Best Automotive stand alongside an emergency response vehicle donated by Best Automotive to South Shore EMS.

It started with a small team of paramedics and a generous donation from a prominent local business supporter.

In May 1992, South Shore Hospital, part of South Shore Health, set out to launch a new paramedics program providing lifesaving care to 11 South Shore towns.  Equipped with an advanced-life support vehicle donated by family-owned Best Automotive of Hingham, the South Shore Hospital paramedics responded alongside town ambulances to provide emergency treatment to those in need.

The program was a tremendous success and helped pave the way to a three-decade long partnership between South Shore Health and the Hingham car dealership.

“We are extraordinarily proud of how we started and where we are today,” explained Eugene Duffy, Director of South Shore EMS. “Our team has made tremendous strides in improving access to critical, patient-centered healthcare to those in our community, and we are deeply grateful to all who have supported us throughout the years, including Best Automotive of Hingham."

“South Shore EMS has the rich history of ensuring the best of care for the Town of Weymouth and residents throughout the South Shore,” said Ben and Alex Shulman, Dealer Principals of Best Automotive.

“We are proud to partner with this invaluable team and thrilled to witness its growth in our community,” the brothers added.

In its thirty years of delivering care to the South Shore community, South Shore EMS has grown exponentially.

Today, the program employs upwards of 150 EMS professionals, two simulations laboratories (one mobile and one fixed) and 20 physical ambulances, which care for and transport over 25,000 patients annually.

In 2018, South Shore EMS became the main source of delivering 911 emergency care to the Town of Weymouth, and many of its personnel support South Shore Health’s Mobile Integrated Health program – providing care to 7,000 individuals in their South Shore homes or other community settings.

In November 2021, it opened a new headquarters located at 60 Winter Street. The 14,453 square foot facility sits directly next door to the Weymouth Fire and Police Departments, helping to enhance the already strong relationship between the three public safety entities.

Along its journey, Best Automotive has remained South Shore EMS’s strongest and most steadfast community supporter, contributing more than $600,000 since 1989.

Recognizing the need for emergency and life-saving education in the community, the dealership donated more than $175,000 toward a Mobile Simulation Lab to the EMS team in 2014.

The MobileSim Lab enables South Shore EMS professionals to take emergency training and education workshops on the road, including teaching people how to administer Narcan during a drug overdose, perform CPR, and how to apply a tourniquet to injured individuals.

Additionally, Best surprised a team of doctors and nurses from South Shore Health in 2018 with a neonatal transport incubator. Worth $198,000 and designed in Germany for South Shore Health, the business donated the equipment, which assists clinicians and emergency medical personnel in transporting premature babies to Boston hospitals and back to South Shore Hospital, if necessary.

“It’s safe to say that while our EMS program has grown, so has our partnership with Best Automotive Group,” said William Tollefsen, MD, M.Sc., MBA, FAEMS, Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine and Urgent Care, South Shore Health. “We celebrate Best Automotive Group for sharing South Shore Health’s passion to make a difference in our community. Partnerships like ours create the most meaningful impact, and we are grateful for their support, which has allowed us to continue building on our 30 years of delivering high-quality, emergency care on the South Shore.”

Best Automotive Group has a Chevrolet dealership in Hingham and a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram dealership in Plymouth. It is a founding member of the Presidents’ Circle – South Shore Health’s business leadership giving society, founded in 1996.