Springfield First Aid Squad Honors Members for Service

The room almost cleared out while honored its members for their service in 2011. The alarms on the pagers members carried rang out, and squad members one and all appeared ready to rush into action.

“Now you’ve seen it,” Squad President Elizabeth Fritzen said. “When that pager goes off, our members leave.”

The squad is coming off a busy year. They answered 1820 calls, a 2.1 percent increase from 2010, when they responded to 1782 requests for help. Fritzen said that historically, it was a high was well.

“When I started, we never broke 1,000,” she said.

In a speech before the Springfield Township Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 11, Fritzen lauded her fellow squad members for their dedication and their selflessness as volunteers. New members of the squad were sworn in by the Township Committee. 

Springfield Mayor Ziad Shehady urged Springfield residents to donate to the squad (interested parties can donate online here.).

The following members were honored:

Length of Service

Bob Gansler - 15 years

Don Mackinson - 25 years

Ken Siletski - 25 years

Shelley Gornstein - 35 years

CPR Saves

Jan. 02 Ken Siletski, Jill Siletski, Sam Feldman

April 26 Apu, Kemit Cotto

May 30 Dustin Blanchard, Matthew Block

July 07 Barry Gallant, Diego Ribadeneyra

July 10 Ken Siletski, Jill Siletski, Sam Feldman

Aug 16 Gloria Simpson, Fred Ostry, Julian Quintanilla, Andrew

Agranovich

Sept. 18 Ken Siletski, Michael Storms

Kimberly Cotto, Stu Maslow and Matthew Block were recognized for assisting in a birth on August 15.

Squad Captain Apu Mullick received the Ilya Fasman Award for answering the most calls.

Officers:

• President: Elizabeth J. Fritzen
• VP: Kenneth Siletski
• Treasurer: Jeremy Salow
• Recording Secretary: Lauren "Jill" Siletski
• Corresponding Secretary: Zachary Sandman
• Captain: Apu
• 1st Lt: Joe Voorhees
• 2nd Lt: Tracy Voorhees
• Supply Sgt: Stu Maslow
• House Cmte (5 year): Shane Ronan (in addition to current members Gloria Simpson, Michael Storms, Kimberly Cotto and Donald Mackinson)
• Trustee (3 year): Gerry Gebauer (in addition to current trustees Martin Gornstein and Daniel Kalem)
• Training Officer: Jeffrey Shanes