An Island Lifesaver (The New York Times)

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Ben Jones ’44 may be the oldest active paramedic in the country, reports The New York Times.

Jones, who has gone on thousands of runs—handling cases of fatally shot police officers, delivering babies, and facing whatever other challenges arise—is the only paramedic on the Shelter Island Emergency Medical Service squad off Long Island’s east end, a position that requires more extensive training than the other squad positions, the Times reports.

Occasionally, a victim might look askance at the 90-year-old Jones when he shows up to help, he tells the Times, and he’s even had them ask, “Can’t you have one of the younger guys do this?”

“I tell them, listen, I was around when they invented the I.V., so relax,” Jones tells the Times.

Jones, who joined the Shelter Island squad in 1983, tells the newspaper that he doesn’t do the work because he’s “such a nice guy. It’s because I’m one of the few people on this island trained to do it, so I feel it’s my obligation.”

Read the full story, published 6/28/13 by The New York Times.

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