Fire Fighters Emergency Skills Lauded

In Westchester Guardian.com May 2, 2013

It is fairly well known in New Rochelle that when there is a medical emergency call for help, the Fire Department trucks arrive first. So it was no surprise that at the Fire Department Award and Promotion Ceremony on April 17 that there were many awards for lives saved by the Fire Fighters..
The ceremony at New Rochelle City Hall began with an assortment of promotions. Henry Senno was promoted to Deputy Fire Chief; Andrew Di Maggio to Fire Captain; and Brett Hendrie, Joseph Oliva and Bruce Savage to Fire Lieutenant. Six new Firefighters were placed on probation: John R. Bollettieri, Ronald J. Fraioli, James P. Manning, Babatunde O. Ogunleye, Ryan P. Pascuzzi and John J. Williams.
Nine life saving awards were given to Fire Fighters. Fire Fighters Robert Jackson and Stephen Schmitt along with Lieutenant Russell Ciotti responded to an emergency call last November for a patient in complete respiratory arrest. These men were preparing for CPR using compressions while paramedics set up an oxygen mask and the patient was placed on a stretcher. Breathing was restored before the person was placed in the ambulance. Fire Fighter Jackson drove the patient to Sound Shore Medical Center, while Lieutenant Ciotti and Fire Fighter Schmitt followed in Engine 24. Upon arrival at the hospital the paramedics notified the crew the patient was alive and the family asserted that their relative would survive.
The second award was given for a call where Fire Fighters Jared McLean and Daniel Thompson and Lieutenant Russell Ciotti found a male half off a bed who had turned purple and was not breathing. All three moved the patient to the floor and Thompson started compressions while Ciotti set up the oxygen mask and McLean set up the defibrillator. After a few minutes the patient’s heart was beating but his breathing was still difficult. The ambulance crew worked on rescue breathing and the Fire Department provided a driver for the ambulance. Without the Fire Department intervention, the patient would not have made it.
Reviving an unconscious patient who was not breathing was the reason the third award was given to Fire Fighters Anthony Johnson, Joseph Rende, Brett Hendrie and Lieutenant Anthony Marsico. Through their actions involving compressions, CPR and IV drugs the patient with no pulse was rapidly transported to Sound Shore Medical Center while Firemen continued administering CPR. These actions were instrumental to the recovery of the patient.
A ninety-seven year old male in cardiac arrest was found as a result of an emergency call answered by Fire Fighters Daniel Betker, Gregory Escobedo, Gary Bruzzese Jr. and Lieutenant Joseph Swanson. While the patient was unresponsive in transit, the Fire Fighters initiated CPR and the ambulance crew started an IV and administered drugs. In the emergency room of Sound Shore Medical Center a pulse and blood pressure was detected. The prompt action of both the Fire Department and ambulance crew were credited.
The next award for saving a life was given for reviving a woman with no pulse. Fire Fighters Gregory Rigos, Nicholas Triscari, Joseph Renda and Lieutenant Robert Ciotti.were credited, Similarly revived by Firefighters Anthony Johnson, Shawn Bostick, Fabio Mateus and Lieutenant Anthony Marsico was a 70 year old woman with no vital signs. While the woman was being transported to the hospital the medics discovered the woman had a pulse and was breathing.
The staff at Costco was performing CPR to a man that was in cardiac arrest. Fire Fighters
Nicholas Williams, Peter Celestino and Lieutenant Brian O’Keefe arrived on the scene and assisted. The man’s pulse returned and he was breathing on his own. The Fire Fighters and Costco staff were credited with saving this life.
The crew of Fire Fighters Daryl Moxey, Daniel Betker and Robert DiPasqua along with Lieutenant Joseph Swanson received a Life Saving Award for helping a woman with no pulse to regain her pulse and breathing. Another woman in cardiac arrest was revived by Firefighters Daryl Moxey, Daniel Betker and Kenneth Hanson and Lieutenant Paul Johnston. They also received the Life Saving Award.
An unusual occurrence resulted in Fire Fighters Jared McLean, Daniel Thompson and Huge Piniella along with Lieutenant Russell Ciotti being given a Unit Citation. A fire engine was dispatched because a passenger in a car had been hit with something flying though the air and coming through the windshield. The passenger had many lacerations including a gash in the face and shoulder, severed tongue and a hole in her chest. Members of the fire team determined unequal lung function was due to tension pneumothorax and used selected medical protocols to stabilize this woman. She was transported to Jacobi. It was determined a metal brake shoe from a truck had flown through the car’s windshield.
Fire Chief Lou Demeglio is proud of the people in his departmentm This ceremony solidifies the esteem with which our Fire Department is held in the community.