Pictured above (L-R): KAA scholarship winners Mikayla Nuhn, Brianna Shipman, Kyra Figuerelli and Emily Jennings. (Not present: Brianna Livingston). 

For the second consecutive year, five Haddam-Killingworth High School seniors are recipients of Killingworth Ambulance Association scholarships.

Emily Jennings, Kyra Figuerelli, Brianna Livingston, Brianna Shipman and Mikayla Nuhn were honored Tuesday at Haddam-Killingworth High’s 2019 senior awards night, with all but Livingston present for the awards and all but Shipman planning to pursue careers in nursing.

The KAA annually grants scholarships to high-school seniors who reside in Killingworth, have been accepted to a two-or-four-year colleges, plan to major in the medical, emergency services or allied fields and have GPAs of 3.0 or better.

The five honored Tuesday checked all those boxes, and the roll call, please:

EMILY JENNINGS – Emily will attend Rivier University, where the second largest major is nursing. And that’s precisely what she intends to pursue. A member of the Haddam-Killingworth volleyball team, she says that during her high-school career she recognized the importance of obtaining a health-care degree in college. And so she will pursue a Bachelor’s of Nursing, with the hope of becoming a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Labor-and-Delivery Nurse.

KYRA FIGUERELLI – Kyra is a prospective nursing student who plans to attend SUNY College at Brockport next fall. Kyra completed hours of community service by volunteering at the Killingworth Congregational Church and the town library and with programs within the Haddam-Killingworth Middle and High Schools. A USA Junior Olympic gymnast the past 12 years, Kyra says she was inspired by her mother, who, as an elementary teacher, touched the lives of children. Kyra is hoping she can … and will … do the same as a nurse.

BRIANNA LIVINGSTON – Brianna plans on majoring in nursing at Mt. St. Joseph, and, like Emily Jennings and Kyra Figuerelli, wants to work with children … and she knows just how much. That’s because she put in over 200 hours of community service in her high-school career, including an internship the past year at the Westbrook ER. It was there, she said, that she decided to pursue pediatric nursing because “it made me excited for the next chapter of my life.”

BRIANNA SHIPMAN – The past four years Brianna has been associated with the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company – which is just across the parking lot from the KAA. In fact, she’s president of the Junior Volunteer Fire Company. Following in the footsteps of her father, who’s been a volunteer firefighter and EMT for 35 years, Brianna hopes to pursue a career as a firefighter paramedic. She spent over 300 hours volunteering at the Fire Company and is on her way to study at the University of New Haven.

MIKAYLA NUHN – Mikayla also accumulated over 300 hours of community service and plans to major in nursing at Endicott College. That should come as no surprise to anyone who knows her. Hospitalized as a child, Mikayla remembers how patient and compassionate nurses were – saying that they “inspired me not only to go into nursing later in life … but to aspire to be just like them.” Mikayla wants to have the same impact on children, mostly because she said she knows — first-hand — what they’re experiencing.

A sixth recipient, Grace Murphy, was awarded a scholarship late this week at Mercy High School. Grace completed over 200 hours of community service, including mission trips with Mercy and St. Peter’s Church.

The Killingworth Ambulance Association would like to congratulate all recipients and wish them the best of luck with their careers.

(Photo above: The KAA’s Mark Clifton demonstrates how to make tourniquets out of clothing at a recent “Stop the Bleed” class) 

For the past two years, the Killingworth Ambulance Association has been preaching the value of its “Stop the Bleed” classes. But now it has tangible evidence.

Cathy Iino’s right hand.

Killingworth’s First Selectwoman sliced her right thumb this spring while using a knife on a cutting board. It wasn’t a serious accident, but there was enough bleeding that she sought immediate medical attention and required stitches.

“Most people who cut themselves with a knife,” she said, “would be holding the knife in their dominant hand and cut the other hand. Of course, I wasn’t doing that. I was pretty mad at myself.”

Nevertheless, she knew what to do. Having taken a “Stop the Bleed” class in May, 2018, with other Town Hall officials, she knew how to respond.

“Raise the arm and press hard,” she said, holding her bandaged hand over her head. “And don’t panic.”

Iino’s experience is an illustration of the importance of the “Stop the Bleed” program. A nationwide awareness campaign (www.bleedingcontrol.org) launched in 2015 by the White House and Department of Homeland Security, “Stop the Bleed” is designed to empower bystanders with the training to deal with traumatic events and emergency bleeding situations before help arrives.

“You just don’t know when something’s going to happen,” said Don McDougal, a “Stop the Bleed” instructor and member of the KAA’s board of directors. “And it could happen anywhere. You don’t know when you might be driving down the road and come upon an accident … and you’re the first one there.”

The KAA first offered “Stop the Bleed” classes in July, 2017, making Killingworth the first Connecticut town to have its citizens certified. Since that time it has conducted 18 classes, including two in May (“Stop the Bleed Month”), with another scheduled for Wednesday, June 12, at the Killingworth Library.

The class lasts approximately one hour and is free and open to the public.

And the public has responded. Students have ranged in age from the early teens to late 70s, with groups that include the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company, the Lions Club, Girl Scouts, local library, Haddam-Killingworth High-School staff and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

In fact, one day after Killingworth Fire members completed their class, they answered an emergency bleeding call where they used “Stop the Bleed” kits picked up 24 hours earlier. In another instance, a local resident who took a “Stop the Bleed” course used his kit to staunch bleeding in a dog that damaged its paw in a slamming door.

But the reach of Killingworth’s “Stop the Bleed” program doesn’t end at the town line. A New Britain resident this month contacted the KAA, expressed interest in the course and drove here to take the first of the two May classes.

“The response has been good,” said McDougal. “Of course, you’d always like to see more.”

Classes typically involve a power-point lecture, followed by hands-on skills stations that focus on applying pressure to simulated wounds and treating them with direct pressure, gauze packing and a tourniquet. According to the American College of Surgeons, there are 44,771 instructors in 95 countries and all 50 United States, with Connecticut ranking 21^st in the U.S with 867 trainers.

“The idea,” said McDougal, “is to recognize when something is life-threatening and to know what to do when minutes are critical.”

For more information on “Stop the Bleed,” contact the Killingworth Ambulance Association at killingworthambulance.org or call (860) 663-2450.

Eight months ago the Killingworth Ambulance Association posted a sign outside its Route 81 headquarters, urging persons interested in becoming EMTs to join. Today that call has been answered.

There are four new EMTs to emerge from the latest class, which isn’t unusual. But this is: They’re all female. In fact, it’s a first.

Furthermore, of the last five EMTs to join the KAA, all are female. Two are in their early 20s. One is a nurse practitioner. Another is a doctor. A third is Clinton’s assistant town clerk. One is from Deep River. Another is from Madison. The others are from Killingworth.

Nevertheless, as diverse as the group is, all have something in common: They completed the state-required 150 hours of classes and passed rigorous practical and written tests. Now, as EMTs, they’re eligible to ride on calls as “thirds,” or apprentices.

As of early May, all but one had.

“I was a little bit nervous,” said Jordan White, 20, of Deep River. “OK, I shouldn’t say ‘a little bit’ because I was real nervous. When I actually got the call and my radio started going off, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is actually happening. I’ve got to leave the house right now.’ ”

Which she did … a little too quickly.

“I ended up slamming my foot in the door because I was trying so hard to get in the car and go,” she said. “I was definitely nervous until I got in the ambulance. And then I was pretty good.”

Her story is repeated by others on first rides. They’re excited. They’re nervous. And they’re as eager to succeed as they are to learn.

“And that,” said Mary Robbenhaar-Fretz, “is the last hurdle.”

The first, of course, is deciding to volunteer, then sticking with a demanding course that last year ran twice a week from September through December. While heavy in instruction, there’s enough hands-on experience to give students an idea what’s in store once they’re certified.

“I felt like I went back to nursing school,” said Robbenhaar-Fretz, a member of the KAA board of directors. “I couldn’t believe how much knowledge they require of EMTs. I was astounded. I have a whole new appreciation for this.”

Mike Haaga, the KAA’s Chief of Service, and wife Marguerite, the association’s vice president, teach the course … as they have the past 15 years. When they started last September they had 11 students. When they finished in mid-December, four had passed, one hadn’t yet completed the course and another was waiting to take the written final.

Again, that is normal. Attrition is part of the process. Every year interested persons drop out as the EMT course continues, with one of this year’s additions — Lisa Barbour, who has adult children – conceding that she considered quitting more than once.

“Every week when I got out of here on Mondays,” she said, “I’d tell my kids, ‘What the heck did I get myself into?’ I also hadn’t been in school for lots of years. So coming back to school … and not having the medical knowledge … was difficult.”

Yet she always returned.

Haaga understands, mostly because he’s heard it … seen it … and experienced it for years as an instructor.

“You have a bad test, a bad day, a bad practical,” he said, “and you wonder: Why am I doing that? Especially at the volunteer level where it’s not their careers.

“But we just point out the fact that it’s not something to get excited about. We tell them that no matter what happens, we’re going to work with them as long as they want to be EMTs.”

And these women did. In fact, when all were asked how they reacted when told they passed their finals, their answers were identical.

They cried.

It doesn’t matter whether their tears were of joy or of relief. They knew what it meant: They had crossed the finish line.

“It was absolute elation,” said Killingworth’s Stephanie Nixon, 23, who became an EMT in September.

Including Nixon, the Killingworth Ambulance Association has grown from 15 to 20 EMTs. Haaga said the latest Killingworth class marks the first time he’s had a graduating group of women only, and he’s uncertain why. EMS tends to be a male-dominated field, so having an all-female class of EMTs – four of them to be exact – isn’t ordinary.

Nevertheless, he cautioned listeners not to make too much of it.

“It’s usually a 50-50 ratio, male-to-female,” he said, “so I don’t know why it’s like this. We opened it up to doctors and nurses and got one of each, and both happened to be female. I don’t know why it was that way. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it because it’s not. But I do know this: They’re working out great.”