The first responders who saved Phillips Avenue fourth-grade teacher Lonnie Hughes when he collapsed in cardiac arrest at the Crazy Sports Night event at Riverhead High School March 21 (see story, “In the right place at the right time: EMTs who saved Riverhead teacher’s life” were honored by the Riverhead Board of Education Tuesday night.
EMTs Sameer Anand, Andrej Ceckowski, Laura Donahue, Christopher Fleming, Jennifer Kelly Chris Mazzucca, Martin McKenna, James Nizza, Sandra Ruttkaova, Susan Schleef, Joseph Sokolski, Greg Wallace and Heather Zilnicki were presented plaques that recognizes them “for heroic actions on March 21, 2014.”
Most of the first responders were part of a Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance crew assigned to standby at the event. Three of the EMTs were in the audience that night: Riverhead High School physics teacher Greg Wallace, RVAC member Jennifer Kelly and Center Moriches Fire Department vol James Nizza, who is also fire chief at the Westhampton Air National Guard base.
“Without their quick action that night, the outcome could have been very different,” Riverhead Schools Superintendent Nancy Carney said.
Hughes, who returned home from Stony Brook University Hospital March 27, is doing very well and is expected to return to work before the end of this month, Carney said.
The EMTS are also going to be honored at the next meeting of the Suffolk County Legislature on April 29 at the Riverhead county center, the superintendent said.
Crazy Sports Night is an annual event pitting the teachers and staff at the various schools in the district, as well as the district office, against each other in a variety of zany field-day like contests, culminating in the tug of war. Hughes, 57, the anchor man on the Phillips Avenue tug of war team, collapsed onto the gymnasium floor at the conclusion of the contest.
Editor’s Note– This story has been amended to reflect the following correction: A previously published version of this story incorrectly spelled the surname of RVAC member Chris Mazzucca. RiverheadLOCAL regrets the error.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.
