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Applause EMT Renata Batista EMT Renata Batista, EMS Station 14, was on her way to work at around 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 14, when she saw a 7- year-old boy walking alone on the ramp to the Major Deegan Expressway. EMT Batista immediately pulled over on the highway and spoke with the child. Recognizing the cold temperatures and dangerous environment could be harmful to the boy, she decided to drive him a few blocks to the safety of Station 14. EMS members evaluated the boy, provided him with food and water, and brought him to the Lincoln Hospital emergency room to be evaluated. With the help of NYPD, the special needs child, who had wandered from home, was reunited with his mother. Firefighter for a Day Challenge <strong>Employee</strong>s from FDNY Headquarters took on the Firefighter for a Day challenge at the Fire Academy on Randalls Island on Nov. 15. Thirty-three participants from bureaus throughout the Department donned full turnout gear and participated in various events, including vehicle extrication, hose line stretch, fire extinguishment and search and rescue. The annual event allows FDNY staff to better understand the difficulties firefighters face every day and gain an inside look at the job. “EMT Batista’s quick response avoided a potentially catastrophic event,” Division Chief Alvin Suriel, Division 2, said. Bureau of Communications The FDNY’s EMS and Fire Dispatchers in the Bureau of Communications receive applause for their generous and giving spirit. On Nov. 4, the group donated nearly $500 to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to thank them for all the work they do combatting the disease. The donation was made on behalf of EMT Sal Turturici. 4
Applause FDNY Family Portraits: Barbara A. Mollica Barbara A. Mollica’s title, Associate Retirement Benefits Examiner/Seminar Coordinator, in the FDNY’s Pension Bureau, indicates she helps uniformed members through the retirement process. But she knows her role as bigger than that. “My favorite part of the job is dealing with the members, helping them out,” she said. “They’re going through a tough time – a transition – and I’m their advocate.” This fighting spirit was instilled almost at birth. Barbara said she was born with her lower legs turned backwards. She had surgery, but her parents were told she probably would never walk. Yet she defied the odds and took her first steps just before age 2. She grew up not far from FDNY Headquarters, the youngest of six girls. Her father, who worked on the docks and drove a limousine, was the disciplinarian of the family; while her mother, who ran a candy store and worked as a bookkeeper, was gentler. “Our father’s strictness and hardworking personality made all of us very tenacious, strong-minded and determined to succeed in everything,” she said. “While our mother’s warm nature taught us to have compassion.” As a young adult, she lived with her sister in New Jersey, before moving back to Brooklyn a few years later to marry and start a family. Barbara had a son and daughter – Erik and Kristen — and she credits them for helping her find her passion. “I was told I was a strong advocate for them,” she said. “And it’s carried through my life.” Her fighting spirit was tested through the years, as she endured several surgeries before joining the FDNY, one of which disabled her for more than a year. But she continued pushing to ensure her children had a bright future. When she was in her 40s, she decided to begin a new chapter in her life and go back to school. She earned an associate degree in liberal arts from Kingsborough Community College and was then accepted into a bachelor’s and master’s degree honors program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, with a focus on forensic psychology. Family issues forced her to stop just short of graduating from John Jay, but the knowledge and experience stuck with her. So when her children were teenagers, she reached out to a former professor at Kingsborough, explaining she was “a little bored” and wanted to try something new. It was suggested she come back to the school to work part-time as an advocate for special needs students. She jumped at the opportunity. And the role required her to do anything necessary to help the young adults, including tutoring and attending classes to help students with physical or visual impairments take notes. “It was great to know I was helping them, and enabled me to take classes I never got to take when I was a student,” she said. Barbara spent more than three years in that role, before moving on to bookkeeping jobs in the private sector. It was then she realized working in government would allow her to continue her advocacy and work full-time. Her life-long love of math and experience with statistics led her to take the City’s Assistant Retirement Benefits Examiner exam. She earned the eighth spot on the list and was hired by the FDNY in 2004. For the last 12 years she has planned monthly retirement seminars for fire officers and firefighters, updated their beneficiary information, calculated their excess and first pension checks, among many other tasks. “The phone never stops ringing, but it keeps me going,” she said. She works one-on-one with many members, often serving as a sympathetic ear for those who struggle with what to do next. And whether she is encouraging a retiring member to volunteer or updating and notarizing their paperwork, she has one goal in mind – to be their advocate. “It can be a hard time for them,” she said. “I just try to make things a little easier. They put their lives on the line for us every 5 day, so they deserve it.”
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