By Brian Zahn
New Haven Register
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — When he was in his fast-paced role as a dispatcher for American Medical Rescue, Michael Montanaro Jr. made a decision with some brief consequences with his father, an EMT with AMR.
“I said, ‘I have to be in early so don’t give me a late call’ and then he gave me a late call,” said his father, Michael Montanaro Sr., who has been with AMR for 30 years and lives in West Haven. “I locked him out of the house.”
Both father, 62, and son, 34 and now an EMT, laugh about the incident, which they said spotlights their relationship as coworkers and family. Though they don’t work shifts together.
“He is my father, but he is my father and my best friend,” Montanaro Jr. said.
Montanaro Sr. worked for Comcast for 14 years before making a switch to AMR, he said, which was largely inspired by his mother’s career as a nurse for the St. Raphael hospital, a campus under Yale New Haven Hospital.
“She always told me I should look out for people, talk to people and look out for the people who treat people the way you want to be treated,” he said. “I took that to heart and started this 30 years ago.”
Montanaro Jr. said he was accustomed to asking his father about his day at work when he was younger, but then made the decision in 2011 to join his EMT father at work as an AMR dispatcher, where he worked for four years before enlisting as a naval corpsman. From his medical experience in the military, he said he wanted to get “back on the road” as an EMT for AMR.
Montanaro Jr. agreed his grandmother was critical in setting the stage for their family legacy as healers.
“Patient care comes first,” he said. “If I can provide patient care and go above and beyond for my patients and it makes an impact for them, it satisfies me.”
There’s more to it than the medical aspect though, they said.
“You have to be more than just an EMT: you have to be a priest, a social worker, a brother, a sister, sometimes a father, sometimes a grandfather depending on the age,” Montanaro Sr. said. “You have to wear many hats and do them well so your patients feel comfortable.”
Montanaro Jr. said some hospitals and nursing homes are familiar with his name because of his father’s years of service as an EMT. However, his father said his son is making his own legacy.
“He kind of amazes me and never ceases to amaze me,” Montanaro Sr. said. “I’ve learned the type of person he is: he’s a stand-up person who does put his patients first.”
AMR Operations Manager Michael Turcio said he knew about Montanaro Jr. primarily through his father’s stories while he was serving as a Navy corpsman, and his father often spoke highly of him.
“Seeing them together out there is cool; you see that growth and development of the next generation,” he said.
Throughout his 30 years of service, Montanaro Sr. has worn multiple hats, including as a supervisor and trainer and also as union president. However, in September Montanaro Jr, will be pursuing a role his father has yet to pursue as he seeks licensure as a paramedic.
“I wanted to make my own stories,” Montanaro Jr. said.
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