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First KAA member inoculated as local EMTs cleared for COVID vaccines

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Shortly after the Killingworth Ambulance Association was notified Wednesday by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) that it can receive the initial round of COVID-19 vaccines, one of its EMTs was immunized.

KAA president Dan O’Sullivan became the first Ambulance Association member to be vaccinated when he was treated late Wednesday afternoon at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown. O’Sullivan said he contacted the hospital shortly after registering with the CDC at 4:45 p.m. and was examined within an hour after booking its only remaining appointment.

It was for 5:15 to 5:30 p.m.

With Middletown a 20-minute drive away, immediate action was required. So O’Sullivan jumped in his car and rushed to the hospital, where he filled out a registration, waited approximately 10 minutes to be seen and was inoculated.

“It was completely painless,” he said. “I didn’t even feel it when it went in.”

Nor did he experience an adverse reaction. Nevertheless, he was warned that he might experience soreness in the area in his left arm where he was vaccinated and told not to be alarmed. As of Wednesday evening, he said he experienced no such symptoms.

“I feel fine,” he said. “I haven’t felt anything that I could say was a reaction to it.”

                            Dan O’Sullivan

O’Sullivan is the first of a wave of Ambulance Association EMTs scheduled to receive immunizations over the next two weeks, with eight already scheduled – including three for Saturday, Jan. 2.

The KAA lists 29 active EMTs and EMRs, some of whom are involved with the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company. Like the KAA, the Fire Company this week received clearance to receive the first round of vaccinations. According to Fire Chief Richard Bauer, one of its first responders also gained an appointment to receive a vaccination.

“This is great news to know that the vaccine has reached the local levels,” Bauer said on the KVFC’s Facebook page.

Both Bauer and O’Sullivan congratulated local residents for their patience but cautioned that one round of vaccinations is just the beginning. First responders have been told to obtain a second round of immunizations in no fewer than three weeks but soon thereafter.

In the meantime, the KAA will continue to proceed cautiously. All crews responding to calls, for instance, wear protective face masks and gloves as part of their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Furthermore, EMTs who treat patients with COVID symptoms — or who are within a residence that had a confirmed COVID case — are required to wear gowns, face shields, gloves and N95 masks instead of surgical face masks.

In addition, Valley Shore dispatch screens all incoming 911 calls to determine if there are symptoms related to COVID-19. If that screen is deemed positive, the KAA forbids EMTs-in-training from boarding the ambulance and requires on-scene first responders to conduct their own screen before approaching patients.

Radios are used to communicate with persons inside a home to those on the outside.

“This is going to be what continues to happen in terms of procedure,” said O’Sullivan. “Even when we’re all vaccinated, we’re not going to change the protocol. We’re all going to have to take precautionary measures to make sure we’re not spreaders of the virus.

“They (the CDC) think vaccinated people won’t spread the virus, but they don’t yet have proof. So we’re going to have to keep doing what we’re doing until the CDC says the vaccination does protect against a spread or the vaccination program is finished.”

According to the latest e-mail from First Selectwoman Cathy Iino, Killingworth has 121 cases of COVID-19 that are confirmed and 127 deemed probable.

HK Local Heroes Project salute includes three KAA members

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(Pictured above, L-R: KAA honoree Marguerite Haaga and HK Local Heroes Project founder Beth Gagliardi)

Three members of the Killingworth Ambulance Association were honored Saturday for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marguerite Haaga, Dan Siegel and Lisa Anderson – all EMTs – were given awards by the HK Local Heroes Project after it solicited nominations from local townspeople. The three were among 78 persons to receive gifts or gift certificates that Beth Gagliardi, who originated the HK Local Heroes Project, and friend Amy Armstrong Koepke handed out Saturday morning at Irene Sheldon Park.

The event was informal, with rewards spread out on picnic tables, and the weather was uncooperative. It was raining, forcing Gagliardi to seek shelter by moving the function to the Sheldon pavilion. What’s more, Haaga was the only KAA member able to appear. Siegal was on an ambulance call, and Anderson was out of town.

Nevertheless, that didn’t diminish the gratitude Haaga felt for being recognized.

“It’s very nice,” she said. “I was a little surprised it was going to be me. I like working under the radar.”

That’s not easy for someone as active as Haaga. Vice president of the Killingworth Ambulance Association’s board of directors, she works with husband Mike as a paramedic in Bridgeport and joins him teaching EMT classes and American Heart Association courses. That puts her in the public domain, and the public has responded lately – with Haaga admitting she’s been the recipient of unexpected salutes the past two months, often by persons she doesn’t know.

“That’s probably the biggest thing,” she said. “Between Bridgeport and here there are a lot of thumbs-up and thank-yous, and that’s what affects you the most. It’s people who drive up to you that you don’t even know.”

That happened last week when a driver she didn’t recognize gained her attention, gave her a thumbs-up and blew a kiss through a mask. It happened in Bridgeport, but, as Haaga conceded, it could’ve been anywhere. Similar gestures of support are not uncommon, she said, and she is appreciative.

“You know people are thinking about you,” she said, “and that they know you’re working directly on patients.”

Which is precisely the point of the HK Local Heroes Project. Gagliardi, a sixth-grade teacher at Haddam-Killingworth Middle School, began the Project to remind persons on the frontlines of the COVD-19 pandemic – persons like Marguerite Haaga – that, as Haaga said, “people are thinking about you.”  With the help of her family, Gagliardi launched the HK Local Heroes Project on her personal Facebook page. The response was as enormous as it was immediate, so she expanded to town pages.

And then, as she put it, “it grew from there.”

With dozens of nominations and donations from local businesses and individuals, Gagliardi and her family chose awards by lottery on Facebook Live. Donations ranged from gift certificates for local restaurants and fitness facilities to window cleaning and two heart-shaped blacksmith hooks. Haaga received a bracelet donated by Lynn Gallant.

“Very, very nice,” she said. “They thought of me, and that’s great.”

Unfortunately, not all could receive prizes. There were over twice as many nominations (187) as awards (78). Hence the lottery. But those who didn’t win were encouraged to swing by Sheldon Park and pick up one of the many Thirty-One bags donated by Cindy Pitts.

They’re also told to stay tuned.

“Moving forward,” said Gagliardi, “I would like to continue this, perhaps raffling off one gift certificate a week. All of the additional raffle numbers are still in the (lottery) bowl. I think it’s important to maintain this support and momentum. What we can do will be contingent on donations.”

KAA roof repaired

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Thanks to James Fretz, the Killingworth Ambulance Association’s Mr. Fix-It, for repairing the roof at the KAA’s headquarters earlier this month.

Apparently, someone at the nearby Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company noticed a strip of shingles missing above the ambulance bay and contacted the KAA … which, in turn, contacted James to make the necessary repairs.

He completed the task in two hours.

Fretz’s work is everywhere at the KAA, sometimes in places where the public can’t see. He’s been involved in the asphalting of the parking lot, painting of the headquarters’ first floor, upgrading of the building’s heat and air-conditioning, resurfacing of the floor in the ambulance bay, improving the outdoor lighting and completion of all of the signage. 

James and his wife, Mary Robbenhaar-Fretz, are members of the KAA’s board of directors, with Mary recently qualifying to become an EMT.

Clifton Top Responder for 2017-18

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Mark Clifton was honored as the Killingworth Ambulance Association’s Top Responder of the Year at the KAA’s annual banquet held earlier this month.

A former KAA board president who was named to the Killingworth Hall of Fame this year, Clifton has been an EMT since 1983 and was involved in 106 calls from Nov. 17, 2017 to Oct. 18, 2018. Jess Accetta was recognized as the second Top Responder of the Year, while Bruce Bowman was third.

The banquet is held annually to thank the many people who help make the KAA effective throughout the year, a list that includes EMTs, EMRs, the KAA board of directors, town officials and officials from EMS organizations in surrounding towns.

All are necessary for the KAA to deliver the services so critical to residents of  Killingworth.

Also honored were the instructors who put on CPR and “Stop the Bleed” courses, instruction that is essential to position citizens with the ability and know-how to deliver immediate life-saving help while EMS assistance is on the way.

The KAA’s chief of service, Mike Haaga, made the presentations.

To learn more about times, places and dates of courses offered by the KAA, please check this website or call us at (860) 663-2450.

“Stop the Bleed” back this fall

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The Killingworth Ambulance Association’s “Stop the Bleed” program is continuing this fall, with its latest class at the Haddam-Killingworth High School on Wednesday, Oct. 23.

The course, sponsored by the KAA since last year, has been a success, with the Ambulance Association making presentations at various local locations — including schools, the KAA itself, the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company, the Killingworth Library and St. Lawrence Church.

“The biggest reason for taking the training,” said KAA board member Don McDougal, who helps with the instruction, “is the same reason the public should take the CPR/AED and First Aid courses: Because you may save a life … maybe even a loved one.

“All you have to do is watch the 6 o’clock news to know that we live in a dangerous world. It seems almost every day there are shootings across the country or accidents with fatalities. But with an hour’s training you may be able to save a life. So why not?”

It’s a good question.

“Stop the Bleed” is a national campaign launched in 2015 by the White House and Department of Homeland Security to inform and instruct persons how to deal with emergency bleeding situations an to provide them with the tools to save lives.

Killingworth was Connecticut’s first community to have its residents certified in the “Stop the Bleed” program, with 19 persons — most of whom were KAA board members of EMTs — completing the one-hour course in July, 2017.

Local classes have been led by a Yale-New Haven Health emergency medical technician and member of the Killingworth Ambulance Association’s board of directors, as well as other KAA board members.

 

The KAA salutes True Value

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The Killingworth Ambulance Association would like to thank Killingworth True Value and Tom Cost, Jr., for replacing a broken rope on the flagpole outside the building. The rope was broken during one of the recent storms, and the KAA needed to install a new one.

That, as it turned out, was not as easy as it might seem because finding someone who could reach the top of the pole was challenging. The fire company doesn’t have a ladder truck, and the local tree companies have been busy cleaning up damage from the storms.

So the KAA approached Killingworth True Value and asked if it would install the rope for a fee. The store declined. Instead, it said it would do it for nothing. The KAA is grateful for the support it received … and has received … from Killingworth True Value and, in this instance, from Tom Cost, Jr., who installed the new rope.

KAA’s Clifton named to H-K Hall of Fame

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KAA board member Mark Clifton, who last year was named Killingworth’s Citizen of the Year, has been chosen to the Haddam-Killingworth Hall of Fame.

Clifton was named along with Killingworth’s Linda Dudek as one of six members of the Class of 2018. All will be honored at the Hall’s 10th annual induction May 3 at the Riverhouse in Haddam, with tickets available for purchase at all school offices and the Regional School District 17 Central Office.

For Clifton, it’s another in a year of significant events. He was chosen Killingworth’s Citizen of the Year last September, with the award given at the town’s 350th anniversary. One month later, his daughter, Hillary, was married at Deer Lake, where Clifton is the director.

Now this.

“It’s been a good run,” he said. “I think this is more focused on the work I’ve done with youths, probably for the 40 years I’ve been working with them.”

That’s part of it. The Haddam-Killingworth Hall of Fame was established in 2009 to honor individuals like Clifton who exhibit exemplary commitment to the service of children — and he has, as director of the Deer Lake camp and as a former Scoutmaster, Explorers Advocate and organizer of rock climbs and backpacking trips into the Adirondacks and Vermont.

But the award also honors those with an outstanding service to the community, and Clifton scores there, too. In addition to serving the KAA, where he is a former board president, he’s been associated with the Killingworth Volunteer Fire Company and Municipal Land Use Committee and has been a HeartSafe Community Advocate.

“I’m honored,” Clifton said of joining the H-K Hall of Fame. “If you look at all the people who have gotten in, you’re in great company. I only hope I can continue to live up the standard of those who received it before me.”