Summer 2016

Bravely Serving their Communities
Deena Swank ‘92
Firefighters, EMS personnel, and
other first responders serve their
communities by bravely providing
assistance to those in need. These jobs
are demanding physically, mentally and
emotionally. When others are running
from a dangerous situation, they are
often running toward it. Many OLSH
students and alumni have chosen to
serve their communities by working in
the fields of fire and rescue.
OLSH senior class president Thomas
DeAngelis ’16 has been training as a
volunteer firefighter for two and a half
years. Many of his family members have
been firefighters, including his father,
who died in the line of duty. He trains
weekly with his department and takes
classes as well. He admits that being a
firefighter can be emotionally challenging,
saying, “You see lots of things you
normally wouldn’t see. You get called to
help people in their worst times.” Helping
people through those times of trauma
and stress, however, is what Thomas
finds to be the most rewarding part of
his job. “It is rewarding to help restore
the peace,” he says. Thomas plans to
continue his training and work toward
becoming a paid career firefighter.
Steven Sluzynsky ’07, who has been a
professional firefighter for the past two
years, also began fighting fires while he
was a student at OLSH. At the age of
16, Steve became Monaca’s first junior
volunteer firefighter. In fact, he fought his
first fire the night
before his first
day of school as
a senior.
Steve’s interest
in fighting fires
began as a child.
He remembers
an experience
at the age of
two that first
grabbed his
attention: “There
was a big fire
in our town and
my mother and I
watched it. After
the fire was out a fireman picked me up
and let me climb all over the truck. My
love for firefighting began that night and
only grew.” Shortly after that incident, his
father became a volunteer firefighter and
continues to fight fires after 26 years of
service.
Becoming a paid fire fighter has not been
an easy achievement. Steve says that
one of the biggest challenges to his job
was “getting the job”. After graduating
from John Carroll University in 2011,
He spent the better part of three years
applying for jobs with departments along
the east coast and locally. “Anyone who
knows this field knows how challenging
it is to be hired as a professional
firefighter,” he says. “You have to take a
written test, a physical exam, and a field
Steven Sluzynsky ‘07
exam, complete an interview (sometimes
a couple of interviews), and also have a
background check and a psychological
test!” There aren’t many positions
available, so the competition can be
tough.
Steve remembers former Social Studies
teacher Mr. Tony Finnegan urging him
and his classmates to pursue a job that
they could look forward to going to each
day. He says, “Very few people can say
they ‘love’ their job, I’m fortunate enough
to be able to say that. When you love
what you do, it’s not ‘work’.”
Steve’s persistence has paid off, and
he is now able to serve as a career
firefighter for the City of Steubenville, OH.
He enjoys the brotherhood among the
men with whom he works and the sense
of fulfillment that comes with feeling like
you’ve helped someone. He says, “Being
of service to the community I live in is a
great feeling. I feel that in some way, I am
doing my part to better the city.”
Amanda (Klein) Gonzalez ‘02 found her
passion as a paramedic. She has been
a nationally registered paramedic since
2010 with experience since 2008 in EMS
(Emergency Medical Services).
Amanda began college with the intent of
getting a degree in nursing. She moved to
New Orleans, but Hurricane Katrina and
“life” got her a little sidetracked. She was
making good money as a bartender, but
she wasn’t fulfilled, and when a friend
called her out, she made a change. “He
told me I was too smart to just be going
through the motions of life and I was
meant to be in healthcare because I was
such a caring person,” says Amanda. “He
recommended I become a paramedic
because I would be ‘like a little action
hero’. I started the program and couldn’t
get enough! Now I couldn’t imagine a
better fit for me!”
There are three levels of EMS personnel:
EMT Basic, Advanced EMT, and
Paramedic. Amanda began, as all EMS
Amanda (Klein) Gonzalez ‘02
personnel do, as an EMT Basic, which
involves skills such as administering
basic life support, bandaging, splinting,
monitoring vital signs, and placing
basic airway adjuncts. Amanda chose
to continue her training to become
a Paramedic, the highest level of
EMS. “Paramedics work directly
underneath a physician’s license,”
explains Amanda. “It’s almost easier
to say what we can’t do! I can intubate,
use electricity to perform an external
pacemaker, synchronize cardiovert (a
timed electrical shock delivered to a
specific part of the heart to slow it down
from rapid life threatening rhythms),
perform defibrillation, start IVs, perform
interosseous access (an invasive
procedure in which you drill into the
patient’s bone if an IV can’t be obtained
or the patient is critical), give over 30
medications with standing orders, and
the list continues.”
Being a paramedic is not without its
challenges. “There are many things that
are challenging when it comes to EMS,
nursing, police, or fire,” Amanda explains.
“We have long hours. On my ‘days off’, I
work for another 911 service. We never
know if we’re going to get off on time
because a late call is a ring away. I see
my work family more than my own.”
In addition, the work environment is
constantly changing and some of the
things EMS personnel witness can be
difficult to handle. “You see people at
their worst moments,” she says. “You
see what people are capable of doing to
themselves or each other. You have to
be able to separate yourself from reality
to function and go onto the next call. I
always dread the question people love
to ask: ‘What’s the worst thing you’ve
ever seen?’ I’ve seen those things so you
don’t have to.”
Despite all of the challenges of her job,
Amanda knows it is the perfect fit for her.
Her goal is to treat each of her patients
the way that she would want a member
of her own family to be treated. She finds
fulfillment in knowing that she is making
a difference. She says, “We can’t save
everyone, that’s inevitable, but there are
things besides medicine that we can give
to our patients and their families. This
year I had the opportunity to meet one of
my patients that I had resuscitated and
came home from the hospital with no
deficits. There are no words to describe
the feeling of palpating a pulse that
wasn’t there or hearing a baby cry for the
first time.”
There is no doubt that Amanda is a
busy woman and well-respected in her
field. Besides working for two 911 busy
systems, Amanda is also a preceptor
(instructor) for students, a field training
officer for new hires, and an instructor
in Basic Life
Support (CPR)
and Advanced
Cardiac Life
Support. She
also serves
on the board
of directors
for Help for
Heroes, a
nonprofit that
assists injured and fallen police officers
and their families. This year, Amanda was
honored as the Paramedic of the Year by
the VFW Post 3267 for her outstanding
service. •
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Be Known | Be Transformed | Be Inspired • 11