First responders to be honored Oct. 23 in Lake Forest

Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital will honor the exemplary efforts of first responders throughout Lake County at its annual "A Cut Above" ceremony from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, at the hospital, 660 N. Westmoreland Road, in Lake Forest.

"Every year our local firefighters and paramedics do extraordinary things to save lives," said Thomas J. McAfee, president of Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital. "Quite simply, there are people in our community who would not be here without the expertise and quick actions of our first responders. I want to thank them for their bravery, for their teamwork and for representing the very best of our community."

This award is presented in memory of Anthony M. Gallo Jr, of the Schaumburg Fire Department, who was fatally injured in the line of duty in 1977. Anthony Gallo Jr.'s son, Lake Forest Battalion Chief Mike Gallo, will be speaking at the event along with Dr. Michael Ankin, vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at Lake Forest Hospital and Dr. Aaron Epstein, medical director of the Lake Forest Hospital.

Hospital officials will be joined by members of the fire departments of Grayslake, Lake Forest, Round Lake, Lincolnshire, Libertyville, Northbrook and Mundelein to honor their firefighters and paramedics.

Those honored will be:

• Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Tony Carraro. On his day off, Carraro witnessed an accident at Route 45 and Grand Avenue. Carraro not only performed CPR on an injured passenger until the fire department arrived, but he called over an ambulance parked across the street and organized other bystanders to help secure the scene.

• Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District Deputy Chief Scott Knesley; Battalion Chief Duane Christensen; and Firefighters Dave Benson, Nick Gambro, Jeff Germann, Jeff Gibson and Steve Shetskey; Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District Lieutenant Mark McManaman and Firefighters Bryan Bergles, Pat Pollin and John Santner; and Northwest Community Hospital EMS Educator Diana Neubecker. Crews from several departments came together to manage a difficult and chaotic scene when a person fell 30 feet off a construction site.

• Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District Lieutenant Eric Hair and Firefighters Anthony Bloxton, Ryan Nelson, Walter Madsen, Nick Norlin, Mike Turf and Dan Zeimet worked for more than an hour to extricate a man out of his car after he spun into a 10-foot ravine. The crew used a ladder as a bridge to reach the patient and pulled him to safety using ropes and a basket.

• Libertyville Firefighters Tom Pitel, Michael Stanek and Jared "Woody" Woodward quickly recognized that a 54-year-old woman was suffering from a stroke and transported her to Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital's certified stroke center where she received the clot-busting medication she needed.

• Grayslake Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Mike Rutkowski, Lt. Mike Higgins, and Firefighters Griffin Byers, Mauricio Galarza, Jason LoBue, Ian Mandigo and Pat O'Conner helped save the life of a 63-year-old man who developed chest pains after shoveling snow in February 2015. A total of 15 shocks were delivered to the patient who eventually received a cardiac catheterization.

• Lake Forest Fire Department Lieutenant Andrew Allan and Firefighters Richard Brija, Chuck Kriens and Christopher Roberts helped a 61-year-old UPS driver who had a completely blocked right coronary artery. It took only 46 minutes from the time EMS called the Lake Forest Hospital emergency department to when the patient received his cardiac balloon.

• Lake Forest Fire Department Firefighter Richard Brija helped a 9-year-old girl who came to the Lake Forest Hospital in respiratory distress. X-ray results showed she had pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum and she was transported to Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's hospital in Chicago for successful treatment.

• Northbrook Fire Department Lt. Steve Morris; Engineer Dan Herr; Firefighters Jim Uhlin, Eric Pelot and Darren Boyce; and Northbrook Police Officer Eric Gustason helped save the life of a 52-year-old man who collapsed at a local tennis club. After CPR, the crew used a defibrillator twice to restart the man's heart.

• Libertyville Fire Department Firefighters Michael Stanek, Justin Haedt and Andy Yarc; and Mundelein Fire Department Firefighters Tim Starkey and Kevin Miller. In May 2015, the two crews worked together to save an unconscious patient who had no pulse by providing accurate and aggressive advanced life support care.

For information about Northwestern Medicine, visit news.nm.org/about-northwestern-medicine.html.