The Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club on Thursday granted its annual Hometown Heroes awards to members of the town’s own rescue services.

“We are fortunate to have his knowledge and dedication,” said Boothbay Fire Chief Richard Spofford in presenting an award to his assistant chief, Gary Arsenault.

A second award was given to the entire active membership of the Boothbay Region Ambulance Service by way of its chairman Robert Ham. Ham made an appearance during the meeting but was called away on ambulance duty before the presentations.

Following the awards dinner, Dr. Norman Dinerman spoke of the development and current service provided by LifeFlight of Maine. 

“I wanted to start a helicopter service,” said Dinerman of its inception in 1998.

Dinerman emphasized the need to connect Maine’s numerous small hospitals spread over 33,000 square miles of land to the major hub hospitals that provide advanced critical emergency care.

Although EMS ground units in Maine attend to the vast majority of 250,000 calls annually, the two helicopters currently in service by LifeFlight of Maine made 1,600 calls last year for patients in need of specialized critical care, he said.

Dinerman said that in the case of strokes, advanced  techniques require attention within 90 minutes. A helicopter can fly from Boothbay to Portland in slightly over twelve minutes as opposed to 105 minutes over land, he said.

The service is currently working to buy and equip a third helicopter at cost of upwards of $1.5 million. A fixed wing plane is expected to be activated soon, he said.

“Safety remains our priority,” said Dinerman, who added that pilots will not sacrifice the safety of patients and crew if flight conditions are hazardous.

He said the service works closely with physicians and EMTs on the ground although the aircraft is equipped with advanced lifesaving equipment and highly trained personnel.

“We are a thread in the tapestry,” said Dinerman.

“How precious it is to have hometown heroes,” said Pastor Wally Staples of the Nazarene Church of Wiscasset in a prayer opening the meeting.

Hometown Heroes Chairman Daren Graves served as master of ceremonies for the event.