FIRST RESPONDER SPOTLIGHT - The Larcombes

Father-daughter duo Ali and Fred Larcombe have collectively contributed more than 10,000 hours of service since joining the Montgomery Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) organization in 2008.

Father-daughter duo Fred and Ali Larcombe.

After Ali’s sophomore year of high school, she decided to pursue her interest in medicine and took the NJ Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification class in Trenton. While helping her study for her state exam, Fred discovered his own interest in the field and enlisted as a driver while he waited to take the class and become certified himself.

This powerhouse team served on MEMS together for several years until Ali decided to further her career in medicine by becoming a physician assistant. Fred works as a consulting CFO for several companies. Since enlisting to be a driver, he moved up the ranks and now works as both an EMT and crew chief on the squad. Fred is known for his late night cravings and visits to both Thomas Sweets and White Castle, often with the ambulance crew in tow, keeping them well fed and ready for the next call.

Ali officially became a MEMS alumnus in 2019 when she accepted her first position out of school as an orthopedic physician assistant at North Shore University Hospital on Long Island. After less than a year of practicing medicine, news broke of the impending threat of COVID-19 and shortly thereafter, Ali found herself in the first epicenter of the pandemic in the United States. All the mid-level providers at her hospital were reassigned to the medicine team, in an attempt to prepare for the exponentially growing number of cases.

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Ali spent three months on the front line, taking on an entirely new role and constantly adapting to the ever changing environment while New York City fought COVID-19. As New York has been on the mend, Ali is back on the orthopedic service. She is happy to be back, but the experience of collaborating with providers of vastly different backgrounds, specialties, and expertise at a time when things were so uncertain was one that she will never forget.