Sunday, May 23, 2010 THE DALLAS POST PAGE 3
33) { i isa
Joi iS | A a. ry |
Rotarian Paul Sa
Rotarian Melissa Saxon right presents Harry xon left presents Ernest A. Rotari i : :
' ' ¢ 181%, : otarian Sandy Peoples, right, presents Karri Rotarian Ken Chapple, right, presents Officer
Vivian of Dallas Fire & Ambulance Inc. the Gay Il of Franklin & Northmoreland Township Dodson of the Kunkle Fire Department the Charles Musial of the Lehman Township Police
Firefighter of the Year Award. Looking on is Ambulance the EMT of the Year Award. Firefighter of the Year Award. Looking on is Department the Police Officer of the Year
PEMA Director Robert French. PEMA Director Robert French. Award. Looking on is PEMA Director Robert
French.
Emergency personnel honored
Annual First Responders of
the Year Awards program
held at Newberry Estates.
he Rotary Club of Dallas presented its an-
nual First Responders of the Year Awards
program on May 13 at Newberry Estates.
Following welcoming remarks and the in-
troduction of guests by Sandy Peoples, pres-
ident of the Rotary Club of Dallas, the fol-
lowing awards were presented:
EMS Personnel of the Year — Ernest A. Gay II,
Franklin and Northmoreland Township Ambu-
lance Association.
During 2009, Gay was a member of the Franklin
@. Northmoreland Township Ambulance Associ-
ation where he served as assistant crew chief and
vice-president. He has responded to the majority
of emergency calls between midnight and sunrise
every day of the year for the past three years.
Police Officer of the Year — Charles Musial, Leh-
man Township Police Department
Over the past year, Musial has assisted members
of the Lehman Fire and Ambulance Company on a
number of ambulance calls, including two cardiac
arrests. He arrived on scene and provided CPR and
AED treatment to patients until Advanced and Ba-
sic Life Support Units arrived on the scene.
Ba
Firefighters of the Year — Karri Dodson, Kunkle BILL TARUTIS PHOTOS/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Fire Company; and Harry Vivian, Dallas Fire & Rotarian Jerry Reisch, second from right, presents Conrad Higgins of the Kunkle Fire Department, center, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Also pic-
Ambulance Inc. tured are State Rep. Karen Boback, left, PEMA Director Robert French and State Sen. Lisa Baker.
Dodson, deputy fire chief, has been an active
member of the Kunkle Fire Company for more )
than 20 years and has served more than 15 years as I
deputy chief. ~ ry = 3 YJ
She has a degree in Fire Science Technology and :
has taken courses at the National Fire Academy.
She is an EMT, drives the ambulance and all of the
fire apparatus and provides much of the training at
the Kunkle station.
Dodson has been been a Pennsylvania state
trooper since 2003 and is an assistant fire marshall.
Vivian has been an active member of Dallas Fire
& Ambulance Inc. for 29 years and has served as
fire chief since 2003.
Under his leadership, the Dallas Fire Depart-
ment has experienced its highest call volume. It
has a clean personnel safety record and has accom-
plished its highest year of class certification and
training.
In his personal time, Vivian has worked with
Wntractors to provide input into fire safety on the
numerous new construction sites in Dallas, includ-
ing the new Dallas High School.
Lifetime Achievement Award —- Conrad Higgins,
Kunkle Fire Company; and William J. Hagen-
baugh, Lehman Township volunteer Fire Depart-
ment
Higgins has been a member of the Kunkle Fire
Company for 44 years and has served in every posi-
tion as a fire fighter, ambulance driver and fire ap-
paratus operator. He has held various offices in the
company such as president, vice president and sec-
retary and has served as treasurer for the past 15 Sl :
years. Rotarian Arthur Peoples, second from right, presents Diane M. Beisel of the Shavertown Fire Department, center, the First Responder of the Year
Fire Chief Hagenbaugh has served as a member Award. Also pictured are State Rep. Karen Boback, left, PEMA Director Robert French and State Sen. Lisa Baker.
of the Lehman Township Volunteer Fire Company
for 30 years since the age of 16. Early in his career,
he attended EMT classes offered in Luzerne Coun-
ty and obtained his firefighter certification from
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
First Responder of the Year — Diane M. Beisel,
Shavertown Fire Company
Beisel heard a scanner report in her neighbor-
hood of a medical emergency on Nov. 21, 2009.
Without hesitation, she responded to the call from
her home.
Upon arrival, she found a woman and a newly-
born infant in distress. Beisel determined that the
baby was not breathing and turning blue. She sep-
arated the child from the mother with a pair of
household scissors and shoelaces. She cleared the
child’s airway and, without any concern for her
own safety regarding exposure to bodily fluids or
blood-borne pathogens, began rescue breathing
hile waiting for the EMS. She advised the mother
& lie on the bed until the EMS personnel arrived.
When EMS arrived, Beisel carried the baby, still
not breathing, to the waiting Kingston Township
Ambulance. With the child in her arms, she and a
paramedic worked on the infant while en route to
Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
By the time the ambulance arrived at the hospi-
tal, the baby had begun to breathe ever so slightly
on her own and was beginning to turn pink in color.
By the time Beisel and the EMS personnel left the
hospital, the child was completely breathing on
her own.
Without the actions of Beisel, little Cheyenne ; : gk
Autumn Jayne might not be the bright-eyed, Rotarian Todd Buckley, second from right, presents William J. Hagenbaugh, center, the Lifetime Achievement Award. Also pictured are State Rep. Ka-
bouncing baby girl she is today. ren Boback, left, PEMA Director Robert French and State Sen. Lisa Baker.