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Shelter Island Reporter editorial: The best among us

We’ve referred before in this space to a famous text from the Talmud about the importance of helping others, where it is spelled out, simply and beautifully, that a person who saves a single life has saved the whole world.

On Shelter Island, we have many of these lifesavers among us, volunteering for the Fire Department and the Shelter Island Emergency Medical Services.

The EMS held a gala evening at Gardiner’s Bay Country Club on Oct. 5, a joyous occasion of good food and good company to honor the volunteers, who represent the best in our Island population.

The EMS members save lives on a regular basis; in fact our EMS has won prestigious awards of excellence for doing so. One notable honor was a few years ago, from Stony Brook University Hospital. It awarded the Shelter Island EMS for recognizing symptoms of a stroke victim and then acting speedily to save a life.

The Island’s EMS was one of only two agencies in all of Suffolk County acknowledged by the medical center for dealing with the successful, speedy and life-saving hospitalization of stroke victims.

In addition, the use of Narcan, the anti-overdose medication, now being used as a nasal inhaler by EMS volunteers, has brought many Islanders back from death’s door.

The Shelter Island EMS, as part of a pilot program run by New York State, had become one of the groundbreaking EMS units in the state to employ the inhalers.

Readers of the Reporter don’t have to look to well-deserved awards for accolades about the agency, but simply check out our Letters page where they will find, on a regular basis, families and individuals writing to thank the EMS volunteers for their professionalism and courtesy demonstrated in a time of great stress for loved ones injured or ill.

Captain TJ Dalton was named EMT of the Year last week. Members of the Shelter Island Ambulance Foundation were also recognized for their efforts to make sure the volunteers have the finest equipment and training available.

What we can do is send our heartfelt gratitude to those fighting every day for the health of Islanders in often extreme situations.