Community Corner

Work and Volunteering Intersect for Busy 32-Year-Old

David Skoczulek says his active volunteer work has benefited him both personally and professionally.

David Skoczulek has a lot on his plate — but that's just the way he likes it. 

By day, Skoczulek, 32 and a resident of Vernon, serves as the director of development and community relations for both the and the Aetna Ambulance Service, inc. He also moonlights as a paramedic for the Windsor Locks Lions Ambulance Corps, is the current vice president of the Rotary Club of Manchester, sits on the board of the Connecticut Public Health Association, serves as chairman of the Board for North Central District Health Department, and as vice president of the North Central Area Agency on Aging (as well as sitting on several other volunteer boards in the area). 

So how does he find the time for all this? 

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If you ask Skoczulek, he'll tell you the answer is pretty simple — he makes the time. 

"For a while I was operating under the idea that if I thought I could be of service to something and I thought I was needed, I would volunteer," Skoczulek said. 

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Far from a drain, however, Skoczulek says that his community involvement not only pays dividends at his day job, because it allows him to establish relationships with many different aspects of the local community, but the volunteerism is also quite rewarding personally. 

"I did enough (volunteering) that it sort of all came full circle and I could connect this one to that one," he said. "It's so rewarding. I tell people all the time that if you really want to get involved in something, there's an organization out there somewhere that needs your help." 

Staying busy has pretty much been Skoczulek's modus operandi since college. He initially attended the University of Connecticut, where he majored in political science, when a friend introduced him to the idea of earning an emergency medical technician certificate as an exciting part-time job to help pay for school. He was hired by the Ambulance Service of Manchester at the age of 19, where he has remained ever since in some form. 

Skoczulek said he found himself "more drawn" to the medical response field, and soon transferred to Springfield College, where he went on to obtain a bachelor's in emergency medical services management. He also completed the necessary training to obtain a paramedic's certificate at the age of 21, becoming one of the youngest paramedic's the company had ever seen. 

Because of his community involvement, Skoczulek was promoted to his current position with the Ambulance Service of Manchester in 2006, and since has worked to help expand the business and coordinate community outreach and relations. This year, the Ambulance Service of Manchester in West Hartford, helped collect turkeys for needy families at Thanksgiving time, and which they donated to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center the week before Christmas. Skoczulek himself was instrumental, both as a member of the rotary club and as a representative of the ASM, in helping to raise the funds needed to in Manchester one year to the day after an employee gunned down eight of his co-workers before turning the gun on himself. 

When asked if Skoczulek said he could ever see a day where he no longer had the time or interest to be as involved in community activities as he currently is, he said such a day was doubtful. 

"It was one of those things that I did on the side and I fell in love with it," Skoczulek said. "When I was an EMT, I wanted to become a paramedic. Then I wanted to become the best paramedic, and then I wanted to know how everything worked behind the scenes." 

Skoczulek said that by helping the community in so many different and varied ways, he has met and had the opportunity to work with people from all walks of life and professions, and has learned what goes into making a strong and vibrant community. 

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