The Guilford Fire Department received several awards for service from the Yale Center for EMS Awards last month. Guilford paramedic Jed Morrissey received the Paramedic of the Year Award and the Guilford Fire Department (GFD) received a Unit Commendation for the most cardiac arrest saves in 2021.

Morrissey’s accomplishment and recognition was due to his dedication to the department, according to Jim Considine, Guilford Fire Department captain and deputy fire marshal.

“Jed was selected for paramedic of the year, which is a great honor. It encompasses all of New Haven County, and all of the paramedics in New Haven County, which adds up to about 38 towns that report in to Yale-sponsored hospitals,” said Considine. “It’s a pretty great achievement.

“I wrote a letter of recommendation for Jed to the center. Jed does a lot of extra-curricular work for us here at the department,” Considine continued. “He’s in charge of out QI/QA Group, which is our quality assurance and quality improvement area. He takes care of ordering all of medical supplies and he took an initiative with a program to track our inventory and have a better handle on our medical supplies. Plus he’s a paramedic field instructor, so he’s been quite instrumental as far as getting our new paramedics trained in our region.”

The department was also recognized and honored with a Unit Commendation. During 2021, GFD successfully revived five patients who were in cardiac arrest.

“We had a heck of a year with five cardiac arrest saves, which is really good,” said Considine. “We had three during the month of April alone. Having that many in one year is quite remarkable when you look at the national average for cardiac arrest outside of a hospital is less than 12 percent, so to be able to have five in the course of a year is outstanding and a great accomplishment for our medics and EMTs. “

Considine said one of the factors that had the most impact on the GFD’s ability to save so many people were quick response times. According to Considine, the faster CPR efforts are initiated the better the odds for a positive outcome for any patient.

“I think our quick response time and early CPR and defibrillation are key. If we can get there within a few minutes of a witnessed cardiac arrest, that definitely brings the chances of survival up compared to someone who’s been down for a while. That is why we like to stress that everyone in the community become CPR certified so that they can bridge that gap for us. They can start that early CPR until we can get there with our advanced life support. The key is early CPR and defibrillation—that is critical.”

Considine and the department recommended every resident take a CPR course.

GFD is offering CPR classes again. Considine said COVID restrictions placed a huge burden on instruction of these classes due to the close contact required for demonstrations and practical training. Considine urged anyone interested to contact the department to sign up and register for CPR classes.

“If you are interested, please contact us for our upcoming classes. It’s a great way for the community to be prepared,” said Considine.

For more information and to register for CPR classes, contact GFD at 203-453-8056, visit www.guilfordfire.com, or email egaudet@guilfordfire.com. The cost is $50 per student.