About Us
Community-owned emergency care, serving our neighbors since 1978.
Who we are
A hometown ambulance service you can count on
Twin Township Ambulance is a community-owned, nonprofit emergency medical service based in New Lothrop, Michigan. We've cared for our community since 1978 — answering 911 calls, transporting patients safely, and showing up for our neighbors around the clock.
Being community-owned means we answer to the people we serve, not to outside owners or shareholders. Every decision we make is grounded in patient care, transparency, and responsible stewardship of the public's trust.
Our mission
"To provide the highest quality and prompt emergency medical services and pre-hospital care to the communities we serve, while promoting financial stability and individual employee growth — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — treating all patients as we would want our own family members treated."
What guides us
Our core values
Transparency
We're open and honest in our operations and decisions. As a publicly-stewarded organization, we welcome the review of the community we serve.
Patient-Centered Care
The safety, dignity, and autonomy of every patient sit at the center of every decision. We treat each call as a moment of trust.
Professionalism
Our people represent the agency with integrity, holding to high clinical standards and the protocols of our medical control authorities.
Accountability
We use a "Just Culture" approach that focuses on learning and improvement, balancing fairness with responsibility.
Continuous Improvement
We pursue better care through quality review, ongoing education, and honest reflection on how we can do more for patients.
Community Stewardship
We accept the responsibility of protecting the public, and we work to earn that trust every single day.
How we hold ourselves accountable
A "Just Culture"
High-reliability organizations know that good people sometimes make mistakes. Our Just Culture framework helps us respond fairly — supporting our team, learning from honest errors, and improving the systems around them, while still holding the line on reckless behavior.
The result is a safer environment for both our patients and our providers, where people feel safe to speak up and improve.
- Human error — we console and look at the system.
- At-risk behavior — we coach and realign.
- Reckless behavior — we hold firmly accountable.
Our story
Caring for this community since 1978
For more than four decades, Twin Township Ambulance has grown alongside the community it serves — adding training, equipment, and people while keeping the same hometown commitment it started with.
In 1977, a local funeral home in New Lothrop announced it could no longer provide ambulance service to the area — the cost and the state's increasingly strict regulations for ambulance services had grown beyond what it could meet. Rather than go without, the community decided to answer the call itself. Neighbors filled public meetings at the New Lothrop Community Hall in late 1977 and spoke in favor of starting their own public, volunteer ambulance service.
Through that winter, volunteers trained in advanced first aid and CPR, finishing just weeks before the service opened. On July 1, 1978, Twin Township Ambulance went into service — run entirely by volunteers, operating from converted quarters in the Community Hall (then also home to the village library and a public meeting space) and staffed around the clock.
Thirty-two volunteers crewed those first shifts — ranging from 18 to their mid-40s — none of them, at the time, residents of the village itself. The first rig was a 1977 Dodge, acquired as a demo unit for $15,000 (about half its $25,000 list price) and able to carry two patients comfortably, or four in an extreme emergency. In its first seven weeks alone the new service answered 21 calls and logged more than 10,000 miles across a 107-square-mile area reaching Hazelton and Maple Grove and the edges of New Haven, Flushing, Montrose, and Albee.
More than four decades later, the trucks, training, and technology have changed — but the founding idea hasn't: a community taking care of its own.
Our founding board & officers
Twin Township Ambulance's first interim Board of Directors was Kathy Howell, President; Chuck Wendling, Vice-President; Jean Ebenhoeh, Treasurer; and trustees Don Ebenhoeh, Jim Raleigh, and Mike Rumisk. Serving alongside them were Dorothy Fries, Commander; Robert Fries, Vice-Commander; Jean Wendling, Squad Leader; and Eleanor Wenzlick, Historian/Secretary.
Historical note: in 1978, household ambulance subscriptions ran $20 a year ($10 for residents 62 and older); members were billed $1.10 per mile, and non-subscribers paid a $50 base fee plus $1.70 per loaded mile.
Our leadership
Guided by the community
As a community-owned nonprofit, Twin Township Ambulance is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and led by an experienced operations team, with clinical oversight from our Medical Director.
Board of Directors
Our volunteer board provides governance and oversight on behalf of the community.
- Raymon Birchmeier — President
- Cindy Clark — Vice-President
- Carolyn Birchmeier — Secretary
- Eric Hobson — Treasurer
- Patrick Andres — Trustee
- Thomas Wendling — Trustee
- John Birchmeier — Trustee
Operations & Administration
Our team handles day-to-day operations, staffing, and patient-care quality. Meet our team →
Medical Director
Dr. Noel Wagner, of the Saginaw-Tuscola Medical Control Authority, provides our clinical oversight — ensuring our care follows current, evidence-based protocols.
Accreditation
CAAS accredited
Twin Township Ambulance is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS). Accreditation means an independent body has reviewed our operations against rigorous national standards for quality and safety — a commitment we make to the people who depend on us.
Medical oversight
Working under local medical control
We operate under the Michigan Public Health Code and the clinical protocols of the Saginaw-Tuscola, Shiawassee, and Genesee County Medical Control Authorities. These partnerships keep our care consistent, current, and coordinated with local hospitals.
Where we serve
Our service area
Twin Township Ambulance provides 24/7 emergency coverage for New Lothrop and the surrounding townships.
Communities we serve
- Village of New Lothrop
- Hazelton Township
- Maple Grove Township
- Albee Township
- Portions of New Haven and Venice townships
In Genesee County and along our borders, the closest available unit responds — we work with neighboring agencies through mutual aid so the nearest ambulance is dispatched, whichever service it belongs to.
Want to be part of it?
Whether you're looking for a career or need to reach our office, we'd love to hear from you.
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