First Selectmen's Report - June 10, 2013
FIRST SELECTMAN’S REPORT
June 10, 2013
Officer Tracy Dunne Uses AED to Save Life of Man in Suffield
Tonight the Town of Simsbury became a HEARTSafe Community, thanks to the hard work of Karin Stewart of the Simsbury Volunteer Ambulance Association and her promotion of the use and training of Automated Electronic Defibrillators, known as AEDs. Tonight we will also extend our thanks to Simsbury Police Officer Tracy Dunne who used an AED to save a man’s life in Suffield, CT.
We received a letter from Police Chief Michael Manzi of Suffield informing us that on May 28, 2013 Officer Dunne, who was off duty, came to the rescue when a 56 year old man experienced full cardiac arrest. Officer Dunne first administered CPR. When that failed to revive the man, she asked for and was provided with a defibrillator, which she used to save his life.
I would like to thank Tracy Dunne and commend her for her professionalism, her presence of mind and her tenacity. Thanks to these qualities, a man who was experiencing full cardiac arrest is alive today. It really is simple: if Tracy had not been there, a life would have been lost. That is the definition of making a difference.
Town of Simsbury to Receive Final Payment of $422,366 for October, 2011 Storm
We are finally ready to close the books on the October, 2011 storm – a storm which left one hundred percent of Simsbury residents out of power for days. In addition to doing an outstanding job of protecting the residents of Simsbury, Town Staff did an excellent job of protecting the Town’s finances as well. I would like to thank Tom Roy, who coordinated our submissions to FEMA and the FHWA. Tom’s efforts resulted in receipt by the Town of the full seventy-five percent reimbursement available from FEMA, and we were just informed that the Town will receive an additional $422,366 from the FHWA for expenses that were not covered by FEMA. Combined with the more than $2.6 million received from FEMA, the grant from FHWA will bring the Town’s total reimbursement to over $3 million.
An enormous amount of work went into this process. Behind the scenes, Tom received a huge amount of support from his Administrative Assistant, Pat LaBissoniere, and I would like to thank Pat as well.
International Skating Center to Host USA Hockey Junior National Championships in 2014 and 2015
I am pleased to report that the USA Hockey Junior National Championships for the next two years will be played right here in Simsbury at the International Skating Center. The matches will be played during the first week in April in 2014 and 2015. This is a very high profile event in the skating world – Hartford and the International Skating Center beat out finalists including New York City, Chicago, Dallas and Rochester, Minnesota to host the Championships for the prestigious U 20 age group.
I would like to congratulate Bob Crawford and everybody who worked with him to win this event – this is hot off the press and more details will follow.