Grove City Messenger - December 11th, 2022

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In Achievement
December 11, 2022 - GROVE CITY MESSENGER - PAGE 5
Dave Dobos
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
The
work
begins…
By the time you see this, it will be fewer than
30 days before I am sworn in to the Ohio
House of Representatives, serving the new
10th District. As you probably know, Ohio has
a bicameral legislature, which includes a 33-
member Senate whose members serve fouryear
terms and a 99-member House of
Representatives whose members serve twoyear
terms. House districts currently comprise
about 120,000 people. Senate districts include
three House districts, encompassing a
population of approximately 360,000 people.
Our House District consists roughly of west
and southwest Columbus, south of Sullivant
Avenue and east of I-270; portions of the
south side of Columbus; Grove City and Urbancrest;
and most of Franklin Township and
part of Jackson Township.
Messenger photo by Dedra Cordle
On Nov. 22, the Jackson Township Board of Trustees and the Jackson Township Fire Department recognized Stacey Dirosario-
Holmes for a live-saving act of heroism that occurred earlier this month. According to Fire Chief Randy Little, the medical assistant
with Comfort Keepers helped contain the spread of a bedroom fire in the Grove City condominium of her elderly patient and pulled
him and his dog out of the smoke-filled complex at a great personal risk to herself. The board presented the resident of
Reynoldsburg with a proclamation that declares Nov. 22, 2022, as “Stacey Dirosario-Holmes Day” and the fire department presented
her with its Citizen Heroism Award. Pictured from left to right are trustees Dave Burris and Jim Rauck, Deputy Fire Chief Shawn
Quincel, Stacey Dirosario-Holmes, Fire Chief Randy Little, and trustee Ron McClure.
Jackson Township recognizes a citizen hero
By Dedra Cordle
Staff Writer
Stacey Dirosario-Holmes says she does
not necessarily buy into the philosophy
that everything happens for a reason, but
she does believe that lessons can be
learned through the obstacles that are
placed onto our path.
It was the fall of 2020 and the Dirosario-
Holmes family was left reeling after a fire
destroyed their Reynoldsburg home.
Despite being devastated by the event, she
was determined to learn what steps, if any,
could have been taken in order to prevent
this personal tragedy.
After picking up some of the pieces of
their lives, Dirosario-Holmes reached out
to the local firefighters who responded to
the scene to get their thoughts on what had
happened to her home and why nearly all
of it was burned to the ground.
“I remember them telling me that if
some of the doors had been closed at the
time when the fire had started, it could
have made a real difference in terms of
slowing the spread of the flames,” she
recalled.
In hindsight, she said it made perfect
sense.
“I didn’t think of this until they told me
that bit of information, but our garage was
largely untouched by the fire compared to
the rest of our home,” she said. “And that
was because all of the doors leading to that
portion of our home were closed.”
Although she wished she could go back
in time with that knowledge in mind to
save her home, the only thing she could
actually do was move forward and file that
information away as a “lesson learned.”
She hoped that there would never come
a time when she would have to put that
knowledge to use.
Unfortunately for Dirosario-Holmes,
she did have to put that lesson to use
recently but she knew exactly what to do
when she saw flames spreading through a
home she was visiting. Her actions that
day have her being hailed as a hero by a
local township’s governing body and its fire
department personnel.
“She put her life on the line to save
another,” said Jackson Township Fire
Chief Randy Little at last month’s board of
trustees meeting where she was honored
for her bravery.
November 1 was a typical day on the job
for Dirosario-Holmes, a medical assistant
who is employed with the in-house senior
care organization, Comfort Keepers. Her
main task that morning was to “keep an
eye” on one of her patients, Grove City resident
Arley Nelson, and remind him to take
it easy as he recovered from a recent medical
issue.
“His wife, Ms. Pearl, and their daughter
had a few personal errands to tend to, so I
had to make sure Mr. Arley was getting his
rest,” she said. “Sometimes patients who
are in recovery don’t want to spend as
much time as they should be recovering, so
I had to make sure he was resting up — or
doing as much of it as I could get him to
do.”
Comforted by the fact that he had settled
into his favorite recliner, Dirosario-
Holmes went to check on the status of the
laundry and heard a “really loud pop” com-
See CITIZEN HERO page 6
I am trying to prepare myself to hit the ground
running. Although there is a lot to learn, I
have attended an initial three-day new-member
orientation and am meeting with House
leadership, community leaders, former legislators,
and constituents in the coming weeks
to get as familiar as possible with the different
corners of our district and priorities of various
communities. I will or already have met with
the mayors of Columbus, Grove City, and Urbancrest;
the superintendents of the Columbus
and South-Western City Schools; Franklin
and Jackson Township trustees; The Ohio
State University President Kristina Johnson;
City Council members and Board of Education
members; and community leaders from the
Greater Hilltop Area Commission and the Far
South Columbus Area Commission, among
others. I’ll also meet with former House members
who can provide helpful insights into
how I can be the most effective.
I will concentrate on quality-of-life issues:
economic growth, workforce development,
and excellent academic education for our children.
House members typically serve on
three of the 23 standing committees. To this
end, I have identified three House committees
that I feel will enable me to contribute the
most: Finance, Technology & Innovation, and
Primary & Secondary Education. Alternatively,
there are three additional committees with
which I feel I can be helpful: Economic &
Workforce Development, Higher Education &
Career Readiness, and Ways & Means. As I
meet with the new House leadership, I will
communicate my interests, priorities, experiences,
and skill sets so that I can be matched
with the committees where I can be the most
effective for the House and for our District.
I wish you and those you love the best for
Christmas and the coming Holidays!
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