Brooklyn's All-Volunteer Ambulance Corps

Captain Robinson
The BSVAC was co-founded by Captain James (Rocky) Robinson, who as a New York City EMT in the 1970s witnessed firsthand how the demand for emergency medical care in many poorer neighborhoods taxed the capabilities of the city's health care services. When he first formed the BSVAC in 1988 (along with Specialist Joe Perez, not pictured), the group had neither volunteers nor an ambulance.

• Health Care for the Uninsured: Remote Area Medical