Dana Solomon has retired from the Manteca District Ambulance after more than 31 years of service starting as a paramedic and then serving as general manager of the non-profit.

 “It’s been a great opportunity to serve this community and being mentored by Ted Poulos,” he said. 

Poulos has long served as the chairman of the ambulance service and a director at Doctors Hospital of Manteca for many years.    

The ambulance service began with citizen donations in 1951 through the efforts of the Manteca Jaycees. It started as a volunteer operation and has grown to the state-of-the-art multimillion dollar operation of today under Solomon’s guidance.    

Solomon, then only 25, signed on with 11 years of experience to fill the role of volunteer manager of the operation and doubling as a certified paramedic.  The ambulance first provided only basic life support and transportation for the people of Manteca, Escalon, and Lathrop.  Escalon would later have its own ambulance service.



Started working out of station behind El Rey Theatre

 Manteca Ambulance began paramedic service on July 1 of that year with four paramedics, two on duty every day, Solomon remembers.  On night calls there was one paramedic and one emergency medical technician (EMT), Solomon said, with pre-hospital care as their No. 1 goal.  The paramedic would drive the ambulance red lights and siren from the South Grant Avenue station behind the El Rey Theatre and pick up the volunteer EMT at their home and head for the emergency call.

It was led by Solomon and Gene Vander Plaats who was the first paramedic in San Joaquin County.

Solomon said he worked with eight fire chiefs during his tenure with the ambulance service.

“I’d like to thank all the chiefs from Vern Reuscher to Gene Neeley, Larry Drager and Kirk Waters,” he said.

“We fought forever to get our telemetry unit – we were doing 80 percent on standby orders,” he said of his early years.  “Teamwork saves lives and property.  That’s how I believed – all the emergency workers needed to be on the same page.”

He said, as paramedics they knew how to treat their patients and it only took precious time to use a radio to ask for instructions from the county’s medical supervisor. 

“We knew the radio wasn’t going to save lives – only good, fast treatment would save lives,” he added, saying the Manteca responders were eventually given credit for their medical expertise.

Solomon was also responsible for bringing the “Every 15 Minutes” program to Manteca Unified high schools.  The intense program about the fatal results of drinking and driving is presented to high school seniors every year just prior to the prom and graduation season.

Solomon recalled in the early years how the Manteca responders were being called the “South County Cowboys” by the regional medical control center.   He said they were more concerned about the “Golden Hour” ticking away that is essential to a victim’s survival. 

“It was okay by us, we knew we were doing right by our patients,” he quipped.



Manteca Ambulance handles 7,000 calls a year

Manteca Ambulance has three stations today with one on Center Street in Manteca, the second on Airport Way just north of Louise Avenue, and the third located next to the Lathrop-Manteca fire station in Lathrop.  The non-profit owns all of its buildings free and clear, Solomon said.

When Solomon retired from the California Ambulance Association (CAA) in 2010 – a member since 1980 – he was lauded for his many years of service and his chairmanship of the organization headquartered in Sacramento.

“In his role as chairman, Dana successfully led the CAA through several critically important strategic initiatives and transitions; Dana is an enthusiastic leader and a man of great character,: CAA Executive Director Brenda Staffan said of Solomon.

Manteca Ambulance in 1987 responded to 2,229 calls. Currently there are more than 7,000 calls logged annually in Manteca – some 22 a day – and another 5,000 annually at the Tuolumne County division.

Solomon’s career got its start when his dad operated Doctors Ambulance in Modesto for 16 years. Dana began riding with his dad when he reached the age of 14. When he turned 18 he was old enough to get his EMT-1 rating as a driver and was employed by Modesto-Ceres Ambulance for nearly two years.

Solomon moved on to Oak Valley District Hospital in Oakdale where he assisted in setting up a new intensive care mobile unit and worked for two years as a certified paramedic.

With the financial support of family, he and a partner established the first and only ambulance service in Tuolumne County in May of 1976.  After four years of day and night dedication, he sold the business that would eventually become part of the Manteca District Ambulance Mother Lode operations.  Solomon then moved his family – his wife Marla and a 4-year-old son – to Manteca where he went into farming.

Manteca Ambulance directors Ted Poulos and Oscar Breitenbucher visited Solomon at his home and asked him to go to work for their service.  He was on disability from a recent surgery at the time and could not take on a paid job for at least two months.

The initial challenge involved three years of backlogged paper work and one paramedic that was leaving soon. In addition to his responsibilities with the Manteca District Ambulance Service, he has served as a disaster planner for Alpine, Mother Lode and San Joaquin County Emergency Medical Services Agency.  Solomon has also been a reviewer for multi-casualty collisions in an eight county area.

Solomon’s passion for disaster planning and multi-casualty incidents came after a head-on collision in the late ‘70s in Tuolumne County.  He had been a first responder to the tragedy finding seven people dead at the scene and another four seriously injured.

“It was the worst accident I’ve ever been called to,” Solomon said.  “It wiped out one entire family from a grandmother down to her grandchildren.”

It had been caused by a drunken driver – one of three survivors – who was said to have caused the whole thing, he said.

Solomon will continue to lobby state legislators for the California Ambulance Association in his support of the industry throughout the state.

After his last day on the job he went quail hunting on a private ranch near Greeley Hill with longtime buddy from high school, David Campbell.    Solomon got some 15 quail but his bragging rights cost him a $100 fine levied by his Manteca Rotary Club.