Waterbury Hospital Honors Area First Responders

From Waterbury Hospital: First responders from Middlebury, Waterbury, Prospect, Beacon Falls Thomaston, Woodbury and Roxbury were among 22 first responders honored during the 2019 EMS Awards and Banquet held on May 22 at Waterbury Hospital.

A team of first responders from Roxbury received a personal, tear filled thank you from a veteran first responder and father for saving his daughter’s life after a motorcycle accident in April. Kaye Collins, Kimberlee Baron, Sarah Lauriet, Megan Hodge and Aaron Hodge received the Excellence in EMS Award for their actions following the accident where a 24-year old was thrown from the motorcycle sustaining serious injuries. The woman’s father Rob Retallick, a long-time member of the EMS community with American Medical Response personally thanked each member of the Roxbury EMS team for not only being the first to help his daughter on the scene, but for staying with her and her family while at the hospital and following up with the family in the days and weeks following.

Nicholas Pelletier and Justin Connery with the Middlebury Fire Department also received Excellence in EMS Awards for their role in helping a mother who had delivered her baby daughter at home.

Waterbury Police Officer Luke Leonardi received the Outstanding Leadership Award for his actions in saving a man’s life in October 2018 after the man was found unconscious and bleeding.

Also honored were first responders from American Medical Response, Waterbury Police Department and Northwest Public Safety. Here are the honorees:

• AMR
  • EMT of the Year – John Lengyel
  • Paramedic of the Year – Melroy D’Costa
  • Leadership – James Golymbieski
  • Humanitarian – Shirley Tarbunas
  • EMS Crew of the Year – Robert Segal and Tyler Young
• Beacon Hose Company No. 1
  • EMS Responder of the Year – Matthew DeGeorge
  • Life Saving Award – Gretchen Carlson
  • Life Saving Award – Boris Reichlin
• Northwest Public Safety
  • Voice of CMED – Pete Miller
• Prospect Fire Department
  • Excellence in EMS – Dylan Sloss
  • Excellence in EMS – Kyle Tournas
• Thomaston Ambulance
  • EMT of the Year – Lori Geddes
• Woodbury Ambulance
  • Outstanding Leadership Award – Julie Duff