The Village of Floral Park took some time Wednesday night to honor 13 life-saving first-responders whom Mayor Thomas Tweedy called the village’s “everyday heroes.”
The group of Floral Park firefighters, police officers and EMTs helped save a 15-year-old resident from succumbing to an asthma attack in January.
“I heard about this and I was just immediately just heartened,” Tweedy said. “There’s a family today that is breathing easily and happy and really, really appreciative of the actions of this department.”
Floral Park police sent officers to the child’s home after getting a 911 call about the asthma attack at 10:50 p.m. Jan. 31.
Officers Michael Saville and Michael Vigorito arrived first and started CPR after finding the boy was not breathing and did not have a pulse.
EMT Steve O’Hare from the fire department’s Rescue Company then arrived and told other first-responders CPR was underway.
Fire Chief and EMT Michael Longobardi then arrived and helped with CPR.
After an ambulance came, the boy was breathing on his own and had a pulse.
But his heart stopped again and first-responders re-started it with CPR.
The boy is still in the hospital, fire Chief Brian Naughton told Tweedy, but his family told Naughton the first-responders were the reason he was alive.
“Words cannot begin to express the appreciation this board has for the work that you do, but especially in this moment,” Tweedy said.
Other rescue workers involved in the incident were Critical Care EMTs Marion McGrane and Marty Cook; EMTs Lynn Willie, Allison Bennett and William Lauria II; fire department Capt. Patrick Smith, EMT and Lt. Tim Slavin and Chief John Florio, Sr.
