Newsletter highlights mock crash at Ansonia High School

Dear readers,

While I'm recuperating from surgery my husband Ralph is taking over all aspects of The Valley Voice.

Please click here to read about this week's mock crash staged in the parking lot at Ansonia High School. 

~ Patti

Newsletter highlights quick work of Ansonia emergency workers

Dear readers,

The latest Valley Voice is now out. It features Ralph's account of a motor vehicle accident he was in last week, and the quick work of emergency personnel.  

We are both grateful to everyone who helped.

~ Patti and Ralph

Gratitude expressed for quick work of Ansonia emergency personnel

This was the scene on Platt Street in Ansonia Thursday evening. When I took this photo emergency workers had already gotten my disabled husband, Ralph, out of his minivan and into an ambulance.

Soon after returning home from attending a political debate at Seymour Middle School Thursday evening, I heard sirens. Lots of them. 

I was sitting at my desktop computer and since Ralph wasn't home - he had been at a meeting in downtown Ansonia - something made me turn on broadcastify. 
In less than a minute I heard a voice on the scanner say it was a minivan involved in an accident. 
I knew before the person said "extrication needed, this is a disabled driver with a handicapped van" or something similar - that it was Ralph. 

The next moment the phone rang and caller ID said Jared Heon, Ansonia Rescue Medical Services director, was on the other end.

Cue shaking.

"Is it Ralph?" I asked him. He said yes, it was but that he was OK. He gave me the location of the accident and I said I'd be right there.

I told our daughter, Allegra, what happened and ran out of the house and headed less than a mile down the hill to the accident. I parked the car and ran down Platt Street to the scene. Allegra followed minutes later.

When I got there Ralph was still sitting in the driver's seat with a neck brace on. 
The airbag hadn't deployed. I was relieved to see that he was coherent. 
Ansonia Police Officer Michael Castillo had used a pick axe on the passenger-side window so that workers could unlock the door and get to Ralph. The van was leaning at about a 20-degree angle to the right, Ralph said, and he was leaning with it, still strapped into his seat belt.

He said he had swerved to avoid a car, and ended up off the road.

At Griffin Hospital emergency department Ralph was immediately taken care of, and X-rays were taken of his knee. Fortunately nothing was broken.

I am writing this mostly because I want to publicly thank the Ansonia Police Officers, firefighters from Webster Hose Hook & Ladder Company #3, and members of Ansonia Rescue Medical Services who took care of Ralph at the scene, and the medical personnel who took care of him at Griffin Hospital.

We truly appreciate everything.

Emergency responders in Valley give a lot, get little in return

Work takes toll on families

The Life of a Volunteer Public Servant

By Thomas Lenart

I have had over 40 years to see how to help neighbors, friends and residents and relatives recover from a personal/natural disaster. 

They call insurance companies, replace belongings, renew friendships, and become grateful for the assistance they receive.

Thomas Lenart

The biggest elephant in this room is the toll it takes on those volunteering to respond. All of our small Valley communities cannot afford to pay firefighters, EMTs, emergency management/disaster response personnel on a full-time basis. So people who are willing to give back to their community “volunteer.”

I have heard derogatory terms like vollies, fanatics, ambulance chasers and much worse. 
While no group is totally perfect, the public really doesn’t see how much good is done by these volunteers on a daily basis, the complaints are visual proof that is too graphic for the public to see, discussing the severe incident by the first responders traumatizes the families and the community, some of that may have some basis.

I do know of a longtime Valley reporter who felt that the public needed to see how much is done for them by their volunteers every day and he fought for that every day of his career.

What isn’t known to the public is the burden carried by those volunteers. 
Training takes them away from their families, fund-raising takes them away from their families, responding to calls takes a physical, mental, and sometimes a financial burden as they lose time from work, many use vacation or personal time for additional training, leaving less for their family. 

Volunteer numbers dropping drastically
This is done not mostly on sunny beautiful days but on dark, snowy, rainy days and nights. Don’t forget shift work, studies are proving that the sleep cycle disturbances are causing real physical harm. Volunteer numbers are dropping drastically.

Personal safety is always a concern, working in unstable structures, traffic, chemicals, germs, and in this century terrorism, it is sobering that there are so many people injured just doing what they do to save the public.

How does the family respond, either gets along without the responder or grumbles that they were never around. All of this takes a toll on family life. There were many times I left the dinner table, family picnics and parties, was late for parent teacher conferences, missed Little League/Pop Warner games, communions, etc. to go on a call. 
Household projects get delayed or put off. It does place a great strain on relationships, as the significant other either agrees or fights the process all the way.

So what is the point? 
I am speaking to the first responders: take some time to pamper yourselves. We teach that the most important person on an emergency scene is you because there are far too few of you most of the time. 
What we cannot teach is how important you are after the call. Many responders die of heart related illnesses in the 24-hour period after a call. The adrenalin rushes, you go to the call, do what’s necessary, miss proper meals, miss out on sleep and try to make sense of the extraordinary things we were confronted with. 
Alcohol, caffeine and binge eating are very common releases and do more harm than good. 

You must make peace with yourself first, vowing to relax a little, get yourself a little present, pamper yourself, exercise, all of which will allow you to calm down. Push away from the news, the extra shifts, and the binge behavior. 

To close, the public expects a professional, prompt, capable response to a call to 911. That does not come easy, we try to keep the cost low by doing it for next to nothing, but then pay the greatest price with our health if we are not prepared and capable to perform our tasks. 

We try every day to reach that goal for public service, the best medicine for a first responder is a simple “thank you from the public and the lawmaking officials in their towns."

None of these folks realize the bargain they are getting, and they won’t until it is gone.

Thomas Lenart, a Derby resident, currently works as an Emergency Management Specialist for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection in the Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. 
His career in Emergency Services began in 1973 as a volunteer firefighter. 
Lenart began as a police officer in Derby in 1976 and retired from the Department in 1997 having earned numerous citations and State of Connecticut General Assembly recognition for investigations, program administration, and was a Police Officer Standards and Training certified instructor as well as the Derby Police Department’s training officer. 
Lenart trained many police officers, firefighters, and EMTs who are working in the field today. He went on to work as an investigator for the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office in Bridgeport and then as an insurance fraud investigator for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company.

He obtained State of Connecticut certification as a first responder in 1975, EMT in 1980 and EMT-Intermediate in 1982. 
Lenart served as a board member and vice-president of Valley Emergency Medical Services, as president of the South Central Emergency Medical Services Council, and Chief of Services of Storm Engine Company Ambulance & Rescue Corps for 23 years, and is still an active member. 
He obtained Haz-Mat Tech certification, technical rescue, and served as fire officer in the Derby Fire Department. 
Lenart is also an active EMS instructor and has trained many responders in EMS, Law Enforcement and Fire Services. His special strengths are operations and planning and has had countless hours working in the field.

Seymour Pink offers discounts to emergency personnel

Seymour firefighter John Hannon poses Thursday with from left, volunteers Sharon Joyce, Dajana Damjanovich, and Mary Deming, founder of Seymour Pink. The organization's gift shop at 3 Franklin St., Seymour, is holding a two-day, "Off-Duty Night" sale with discounts for emergency personnel. The store is also open to the public from 2-8 p.m. today. 

Seymour Pink to thank emergency personnel

'Off-Duty' Night slated at shop

The gift shop is at 3 Franklin St., Seymour.

Seymour Pink to recognize emergency personnel

'Off-Duty Night' event planned at shop

The shop is at 3 Franklin St., Seymour.

Assumption Church in Ansonia to hold Blue Mass

In honor of Valley emergency personnel
ANSONIA - A Blue Mass sponsored by Knights of Columbus Council 23 will be held Sunday at Church of the Assumption, 61 N. Cliff St.

It will be an opportunity to honor all of the Valley’s police, fire, and emergency personnel and their families. 

The Rev. Jeffrey Gubbiotti, pastor, will offer a special blessing to invoke God’s protection for all whose jobs in service to the public can put them in harm's way. 

All personnel are invited to march in the procession, in dress uniform, and be seated with their families in the front section of the church. 

The procession will form in the rear of the church at 10:40 a.m., five minutes before the start of the 10:45 a.m. Mass.

All are invited to attend a light reception that will follow the Mass in the church hall.

For information call Father Jeff 203-735-7857, or e-mail trichard@trumbull-ct.gov.


This post is taken from an online community calendar.