Three East Williston residents are being recognized for their service with the East Williston Fire Department in the 2012 Nassau Regional Emergency Medical Service Council Awards.
Ex-captain Kevin Mulrooney is being recognized with an EMS Leader Award honorable mention for 25 years of service that included upgrading emergency medical services in the fire department.
Steven Jones, also a 25-veteran of the East Williston Fire Department, is being recognized with an honorable mention as a Basic Life Support Provider of the Year for his efforts in resuscitating a man who was in cardiac arrest earlier this year.
And Dr. Anthony Calio is receiving an honorable mention as a Physician of Excellence for more than 10 years of service as the East Williston department’s physician
Mulrooney and Jones will receive their awards at ceremonies on Oct. 17 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Westbury. Award winners are nominated by members of their respective fire or emergency services departments and the nominations are reviewed by a committee of the regional EMS council, which makes the final selections.
Mulrooney said he was the first emergency medical technician to serve in the East Williston Fire Department after he earned his certification in 1988.
Mulrooney instituted the department’s emergency medical service organization and response system in the early 1990s after a local man went into cardiac arrest and the East Williston department was not notified
“That was the impetus of the program. At that time we were only a fire department,” Mulrooney said.
Prior to that emergency, Mulrooney said the department had only responded to house fires. After the incident, Mulrooney said he helped work out a system with police and fire dispatchers to notify the department of local medical emergencies so an ambulance could be dispatched from the East Williston department
“As time went on, we expanded that to do dual response with the Nassau County Police. I’m very proud of having set this system up,” he said.
Mulrooney also encouraged fellow firefighters in the department to seek emergency medical training. Today, he said 24 of the East Williston department’s 50 members are state certified as certified first responders, emergency medical technicians, or advanced medical technicians. Three member of the department are paramedics.
Over the past 20 years, Mulrooney said, the East Williston volunteers who are medically trained have performed cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on five people.
“Our mission is to get out their fast , perform CPR and defibrillation while the ambulance is on the way and we’ve done that,” he said.
Mulrooney said he’s found it to be “very rewarding” work over the years.
“It’s gratifying to know people are calling you on the worst day of their lives,” he said.
And as training has increased and the need for equipment has grown, Mulrooney said all of the fire department’s costs have been covered through grants and donations.
Jones was instrumental in saving the life of another ice skater at Hicksville’s Cantiague Park who apparently suffered a heart attack while on the ice in February.
Jones was ice skating with his eight-year-old son when he saw the man collapse on the ice from a short distance away. He initially assumed he had simply lost his balance and fallen. When he remained motionless on the ice, Jones skated over and identified himself as an EMT from the East Williston Fire Department.
A rink attendant examining the man said it appeared the man had suffered some kind of seizure. But after finding the man had no pulse and seeing him turning blue, Jones reached a different opinion.
“He’s having a heart attack,” Jones recalled saying.
He asked rink attendants if they had an automated external defibrillator, and told them to go grab it and call for help. Two other “good Samaritans” started assisting him in administering cardio-pulmonary resuscitation to the man in the meantime.
When the defibrillator arrived, Jones immediately applied it to the man and within two or three minutes, the man had been shocked back to life and was talking, recalling that he had been skating but not remembering the collapse.
Jones, who has also served in the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps, had attempted to revive people before, but never with such a dramatically gratifying result.
“I never had anyone come back to life before,” Jones said, adding that he was elated at the result.
He said he is pleased with the recognition of his efforts.
“It’s what it’s about when you help in the community. We train to be EMTs and every once in a while, it pays off,” he said. “It’s a good moment.”
Calio said he got involved in volunteering his services to the fire department after he was approached about becoming a volunteer firefighter himself.
The 22-year East Williston resident said he wasn’t sure he could handle the physical demands of fighting fires and asked if there was some other way he could assist the department. When he was asked about being the department’s physician, he immediately replied, “I can do that.”
So he accepted the task of administering regular physicals to the East Williston volunteers and reviewing records of the department’s ambulance calls.
“I do it to give back to the community. I do admire what they do for the community,” Calio said.
Two members of the Mineola Volunteers Ambulance Corps are also being recognized for the their efforts by the Regional EMS Council.
Kevin O’Donnell, is also receiving an honorable mention as a Basic Life Support Provider of the Year for his consistent service in the department – particularly during and after Hurricane Sandy struck last fall.
“He was down there for pretty much two weeks back-to-back non-stop,” said Mineola Volunteers Ambulance Corps Chief Chris Taylor. “He’s one of our most active members. He’s in on two-thirds of the calls we receive each year.”
Taylor said O’Donnell was also instrumental in saving the life of a child who had gone into cardiac arrest in Albertson last year.
Mineola Volunteers Ambulance Corps member Neil Velasco is receiving an honorable mention as Communications Specialist of the Year.
In Albertson, Alfonse Marchica of the Albertson Fire Company is receiving an honorable mention as a Basic Life Support Provider of the Year and Edward Rummel is being recognized with an honorable mention for EMS Leadership.
