By Andrew Minucci & Jillian Jorgensen
Staten Island Advance
Copyright 2007 Advance Publications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
NEW YORK CITY — EMS workers and those they helped gather for Second Chance Brunch at the Fire Academy When 61-year-old Dominick Poveromo was awakened by his son on Jan. 27, 2006, his immediate concern was the fire scorching the side of his Grant City home.
As he helped Dominick Poveromo Jr. extinguish the flames with a pail of water, he felt a sudden chill and collapsed. Responding firefighters, discovering Poveromo on the ground, set to work resuscitating the retired city Department of Sanitation employee.
A little more than a year later, on Jan. 30, 2007, Domenick Ciaramella was watching television with his wife, Josephine, in their Eltingville home when he clutched his chest and made a choking sound, then lost consciousness.
Mrs. Ciaramella, who was so nervous that she had difficulty finding the telephone, called 911 and Emergency Medical Service workers arrived soon after to resuscitate the 71-year-old grandfather of seven.
Poveromo and Ciaramella were two of 13 cardiac arrest survivors who were honored guests at yesterday’s 13th annual Second Chance Brunch at the Fire Academy on Randall’s Island, which lets FDNY Emergency Medical Service see the people they first encountered in ambulances now enjoying their lives once again.
Responding to a 911 call about the fire, placed prior to Poveromo’s collapse, firefighters discovered him unresponsive. Capt. Peter Runfola of Engine Co. 165, New Dorp, and his team administered CPR, shocked Poveromo’s heart with a defibrillator and provided artificial respiratory ventilation. Medical training is required of all city firefighters because they frequently arrive at the scene before medical units can respond.
“It’s an exceptional feeling, seeing your work make a difference in someone’s life,” said Runfola.
Poveromo, who had an existing heart condition, was taken by ambulance to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze. After his discharge, Poveromo, who is hoping to receive a donor heart, wished to thank the “beautiful people” who saved his life.
The event also had a profound effect on Poveromo’s son. “Before that night, I was drifting away from my family because of my own personal reasons,” said Poveromo Jr.
As his efforts to keep his father conscious until EMS arrived quickly failed, Poveromo Jr. prepared for the worst.
“It was frustrating, because I couldn’t do anything about it,” he added.
Almost a year and a half later, father and son sat side by side smiling and laughing, as they admired the mounted certificate given to each survivor.
When fellow survivor Domenick Ciaramella, a retired computer programmer, sat down next to Jonathan Damato, one of the EMS paramedics who helped save his life, he shook his hand and joked, “Glad to see you, John. And I mean really glad to see you.”
His wife said it did not take long for firefighters to respond to her 911 call.
Firefighters from Engine Co. 167 in Annadale arrived first, performed CPR and shocked Ciaramella once with a defibrillator to try to restart his heart.
Paramedics Damato and John Rosati, from Station 22 in Sea View, arrived next. They inserted a breathing tube into Ciaramella, medicated him, and shocked him once again with the defibrillator. Finally, they found a pulse.
EMTs Philip Rivera and Miosotty Delgado, then both assigned to Station 23 in Rossville, assisted with ventilation as they transported Ciaramella to the hospital.
‘AMAZING’ EXPERIENCE
Rivera, who had only been on the job for about a month when Ciaramella had his heart attack, said the call was his first response to a cardiac arrest. He added that reuniting with the man he helped save was an “amazing” experience.
“Last month, I was questioning my whole career and where I’m going. Now, I’m sitting here thinking maybe I could do this for 20 years,” he said.
Ms. Delgado, the other EMT who responded to the call, said that resuscitating people who suffer a cardiac arrest is “like a miracle.”
“You’re an instrument of God when you’re helping that person,” she said.
Almost three months after EMS workers saved his life, Ciaramella was in good spirits, and his wife said she’s looking forward to their 50th wedding anniversary in two years.
“I’m just enjoying myself. I’m glad to be enjoying myself,” he said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke before the brunch about the long history of the EMS and said the city’s EMS workers are “truly doing God’s work.”
“Every day, another New Yorker owes his life to a paramedic, EMT or firefighter,” Bloomberg said.