Mary Ellen McGuire

First Assistant Chief Mary Ellen McGuire joined East Hampton Ambulance in 2004. She is an EMT and certified CPR Instructor who has been a member of several ambulance committees. This is her third term in leadership, having spent 3 previous years as Assistant Chief and 3 years as Chief.

Mary Ellen, who graduated from St Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, was a lifelong summer resident before relocating to East Hampton full-time 30 years ago with her husband and five children. After establishing a real estate business, she realized she missed volunteering, and saw that the ambulance needed help. She has had the “pleasure of serving the community” ever since.

“There is great satisfaction when you are able to not only help a sick or injured person medically, but also emotionally,” she says. “Being in the back of an ambulance; feeling hurt; lying flat on a stretcher and being transported to a hospital by strangers… the patient is in one of his or her most vulnerable situations. Helping the patient during that ride is a gift we can give.”