Each year during National Emergency Services (EMS) week, the Chester County Emergency Medical Services Council Inc. convenes to honor providers that went beyond the call of duty – from bringing a person back to life to bringing new life into the world.

On Thursday, May 19, the 12^th Annual Awards Ceremony was held at the Red Clay Room in Kennett Square. In addition to recognizing dozens of EMS workers, the ceremony also honored five citizens who turned tragedy into triumph as well as a longtime lawmaker.

Kennett Square resident Andy Rumford was applauded for founding Kacie’s Cause, a tribute to his daughter Kacie, who died from a heroin overdose in 2013 at the age of 23. Since her death, Rumford has worked tirelessly educate the community about the widespread use of heroin, to suggest resources for addiction support and treatment, and to advocate for life-saving legislation.  In the time since he founded this group, Pennsylvania has passed a Good Samaritan law that grants immunity to anyone who calls 911, and it has made naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, available to EMS workers as well as the public.

Citizens Vince Blando and Dave Lattanzi were cited for an incident in April 2015 involving an individual who went into cardiac arrest in the lobby of a Berwyn business.  Blando and Lattanzi, part of an internal emergency response team for the business, quickly began care for this individual, providing CPR and defibrillating the patient multiple times, care deemed essential for the patient’s survival.

The remaining citizens – Bonnie Smith, Laurie Nelson and Colleen Owens – were working on Dec. 16 in the Oxford area when an individual had what appeared to be a seizure and became unresponsive.  The three staff members worked as a team to begin life-saving CPR and defibrillation prior to the arrival of EMS.

The Robert Thompson Memorial Award, which commemorates the legacy of the late state Sen. Robert Thompson, a Chester County EMS Council board member, went to state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19. Dinniman was recognized as a longtime proponent of EMS. Most recently he was instrumental in supporting Project Naloxone and for sponsoring legislation to extend the protection of the Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act to regional EMS councils and advisory boards.

“Of course, the real heroes here are our emergency first responders who dedicate themselves every hour of every day to keeping our communities safe and saving lives,” Dinniman said in accepting the award. “As your state Senator, I have always and I will always make public safety my first priority and I will continue work tirelessly to ensure that our emergency first responder and ambulance companies have the tools, support, and resources they need to do their jobs.”

Joshua Schreiber of Honey Brook/Elverson EMS was named the Basic Life Support (BLS) Provider of the Year for his pivotal leadership in the merger between the Elverson and Honeybrook EMS services.  In additional he coordinates their Strike Team and assists with training of new EMS personnel.

The Advanced Life Support (ALS) Provider of the Year was Wilbur Emmons of Chester County Hospital Medic 91. An ALS provider for more than seven years, Emmons spent countless hours planning and implementing a pilot project for Penn Medicine at Chester County Hospital during the past year.  This project, a community paramedicine program implemented in July, focuses on assisting vulnerable patients within Chester County and bridging the gap between in-patient hospital care and return to home to reduce additional visits for issues that can be handled at home.

Telecommunicator of the Year honors went to Jon Kromer for his contributions in the training and education of EMS and public personnel in the use, access or support of emergency 911 dispatch, and Herbert N. Schiffer, a physician at Phoenixville Hospital, received the EMS Educator of the Year Award for leadership in instructional techniques, administration of EMS training, and participation in EMS classes and certification exams.

The Nicholas H. S Campbell Meritorious Service/EMS Leadership Award was given to Kimberly Ann Holman of Good Fellowship Ambulance Club, and the Distinguished Service Award of the Year was bestowed on the Minquas Fire Company.

 The response to a two-vehicle accident with entrapment on Route 10 on Nov 20 led to Medal of Valor recognition for Parkesburg Police Sgt. Rick Moran, Parkesburg Police Officer Rodney Discher and Keystone Valley Fire Department Chief Brian Gathercole.

Maternity Awards went to first-responders who assisted in the pre-hospital delivery of a baby: Mark Scanlon and David Morrow of Malvern Fire Company; Ashley Marchetti and Kevin Gordon of West End EMS; Schuylkill Township Police Officers Curtis Ponds and Christopher Mignogna; Spring City Police Officer James Wyatt; and Jose Santiago and Kevin McCarthy of Honey Brook/Elverson EMS.

A number of first-responders received Life-Saving Clinical Excellence awards for their involvement in saving a patient who was in imminent danger of death. Those recipients were Mark Scanlon of Malvern Fire Company (two incidents), Kelly Raum of Paoli Fire Company, Brandon Bullard of Paoli Fire Company, Jason Drinkwater of Malvern Fire Company, Chester County Deputy Sheriff Dennis Quill, Chester County Deputy Sheriff Jeffrey DiVito, Chester County Deputy Sheriff Kevin Skymba, Chester County Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Kurt Hansen, Chester County Deputy Sheriff Michael Sarro, Chester County Deputy Sheriff Ted Davis, Anne Marie Sullivan of Good Fellowship Ambulance, Charles Brogan of Good Fellowship Ambulance, William Wells Sr. of Good Fellowship Ambulance (55), Thomas Wright of Good Fellowship Ambulance, Hassan Sherif of Good Fellowship Ambulance, Timothy Bossert of Good Fellowship Ambulance (55), Rachael Kinsey of Good Fellowship Ambulance, Michael Borrello of Chester County Hospital Medic 91, Parkesburg Police Officer Rodney Discher, Parkesburg Police Sgt. Rick Moran, Kelly Motter of Brandywine Hospital Medic 91, Kelly Ratcliff of Keystone Valley Fire Department, Regina Solecki of Keystone Valley Fire Department, and of Keystone Valley Fire Department Chief Brian Gathercole.

Clinical Save Awards were given to EMS providers involved in saving a patient’s life, sometimes in more than one incident, through CPR or the automated external defibrillator (AED). Those honorees were Stacy Crowding, Theresa Delp and Bryan Sockel of Minquas Fire Company; Jason McCully and David Wallace of Keystone Valley Fire Department; Catherine Rawlings and Craig Shaffer of Brandywine Hospital Medic 93; Saveria Sardone of Malvern Fire Company; Matthew Cole, Jared Dalmas, Gregory Lewis and Kevin Skymba of East Whiteland Fire Company; Evan Brazunas, Stoddard Taylor, Andrew Rychlak, Mary Ellen Toscani, Gerard Griesser, Bryan Rachko, Christopher Bullock, and Christopher McDonald of Berwyn Fire Company; Jason Brooks, Jason Overholt, Brad Cosgrove, and Michael Borrello of Minquas Fire Company; Jack Law III, James Lucas, Jim Kelch, and John Follett of West Bradford Fire Company; Kevin Bambrick and Steven Beiermeister of Keystone Valley Fire Department; Robert Guiney of Brandywine Hospital Medic 93; Matthew Kaminski, Matthew Norris, Thomas Hardon, Michael Baskin, Mary Ellen Toscani, Michael Maguire, Shawn Savering, Bryan Humbarger and Michael Ford of Berwyn Fire Company; Mark Scanlon, C. Dustin Vaughn, Keith Johnson and Tammy Johnson of Malvern Fire Company; Nicholas Sawyer and Vietta Wood of Union Fire Company of Oxford; Donald Keith of Southern Chester County EMS Medic 94; Anthony Damiani, Jason Brooks, Jason Overholt and Robert Patterson of Minquas Fire Company; Justin Shultz, Geoffrey Burkhart, and Peter Mango Jr. of Keystone Valley Fire Department; Jason Motter of Brandywine Hospital Medic 93; Thomas Dobbins and Amanda Baker of Malvern Fire Company; Justin Shultz, Jason McCully, David Wallace, Stephanie Klingler and Robert Guiney of Keystone Valley Fire Department; Andrew O’Donnell of Brandywine Hospital Medic 93; Andrew Conaway and James Worth of Paoli Fire Company; Janel Fritz, John Paul Mensack, Catherine Gibbs, and Paul Olmo of Uwchlan Ambulance; Joseph Crawford and Brian Vickers of Westwood Fire Company; Leo Scaccia and Kelly Motter of Brandywine Hospital Medic 93; Robert Conway and Brian Vickers of West Grove Fire Company; Donald Keith and Daniel Syme of Southern Chester County EMS Medic 94; Kristen Rutty, Andrew M. Alloway and Timothy Grattan of Uwchlan Ambulance; Blaine Halsey and Joshua Lowery of Union Fire Company of Oxford; Alex Christ and Kimberly Harvey of Southern Chester County EMS Medic 94; James Pilotti, John Reilly, Anthony Rambo and John Sly of Westwood Fire Company; David High and Theresa Delp of Brandywine Hospital Medic 93; Joseph Edwards of East Brandywine Fire Company; Adam Pozza and Bryan Sockel of Minquas Fire Company; Michael Sells, Charles Foy Jr., Danielle Hughes, Samuel Terry and Allen Wood Jr. of Union Fire Company of Oxford; John Ryan and Tammy King Whiteman of Southern Chester County EMS Medic 94; Heather Staley and Jason Lutz of West End EMS (Phoenixville); Phoenixville Police Officer. E. Glennon; David Smith, Craig Lear, Stephen Sotak, Chase Paugh and Thomas Valko of Phoenixville Fire Department.