To the editor:

When I have called 911 in the past for emergencies with my elderly parents and have specifically requested the Nansemond-Suffolk Volunteer Rescue Squad, I have been told dispatchers cannot pass my call to them and that I would have to look up the number myself. Emergency dispatchers would not assist me.

My parents always contributed to the Nansemond-Suffolk Rescue Squad. I can remember when they were the only rescue squad you could get to help you, and you were thankful for their assistance.

It appears to me that the city now wants to dictate who provides help when residents need a rescue squad. The city’s paid rescue service seems to boil down to a money-making undertaking, based on the bills I have received from it in the past. It appears to me that city officials want to run the Nansemond-Suffolk Rescue Squad out of town. That is a shame.

These people are volunteers who want to provide help. They give up their time to be there. If they need more training to be a better unit, then help them get it.

I am speaking as a resident of the city of Suffolk, the city where my father was mayor for years and the city he was proud of.

What has the city of Suffolk become today? Are you proud of it?

Virginia Hope

Suffolk