Kamens Ambulance

Wilbur Sr. and Helen Kamens founded Kamens Ambulance in January 1943 in Meriden, Connecticut. Prior to launching the service, Wilbur Sr. operated a bread delivery business and was widely known throughout the city as the “Check Bread Man.” In late 1942, he made the decision to change jobs and successfully negotiated a contract with the City of Meriden to provide ambulance services to the community.

In December 1942, Wilbur Sr. purchased a single ambulance from a dealer in New Britain, Connecticut, and responded to his first official city call on January 1st, 1943. The partnership between Kamens Ambulance and the City of Meriden endured from 1943 through the mid-1970s.

In the early decades, Kamens Ambulance functioned primarily as an emergency transport service, with a focus on rapid response and conveyance to local hospitals. As emergency medicine evolved in the post-war period and into the 1960s and 1970s, the service expanded beyond transportation to include basic patient assessment, first aid, oxygen administration, and other pre-hospital medical care.

During this period, Wilbur Sr. worked closely with the Meriden Police Department to integrate ambulance operations into the city’s broader public safety response, helping establish coordinated dispatch and response protocols. Through this transition—from transport-based service to clinically oriented pre-hospital care—Wilbur Sr. and the Kamens family helped set early standards for community ambulance and medical response in Meriden, contributing to the foundation of what would later become modern emergency medical services (EMS) both within the city and the surrounding region.