Lieutenant Kim Puchalski Wins Paramedic of the Year Award
Lieutenant Kim Puchalski has been chosen as our 2013 Paramedic of the Year Award. Kim’s experience, knowledge, skills and abilities have been demonstrated by leading Medic 4 (ME4) on two successful cardiac arrest resuscitations on 10/28/2012 and 4/2/2013.
Lt. Puchalski has four years experience as an Emergency Room Registered Nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital. The combinations of paramedic and nursing experience permit her to make intuitive decisions such as on 8/29/2012 when she was persistent and convinced an earlier fall victim for 37 minutes to permit transportation By BRFRS to the emergency room. The patient was upgraded to a trauma alert enroute to Delray Medical Center and later diagnosed with a hemopnuemothorax and three rib fractures.
Kim goes over and above in the area of call volume and response readiness; consistently taking alarms whenever closer without hesitation. In addition, whenever ME4 is still busy from the previous shift, Lt. Puchalski has ME24 ready to respond and has responded when called upon.
Lt. Puchalski’s service & dedication to the community is exceptional, always placing others first. On 11/1/2012 a Boca Teeca citizen knocked on the door at station 4 concerned for the welfare of a new Highland Beach friend of whom she had limited information about and who had not arrived for a weekly card game. Kim researched the condominium information, found a complete name, contacted police for a welfare check, and found the person while calling hospitals at Boca Raton Regional Hospital ICU. On 2/1/2013 Kim assisted a disabled motorist by safely pushing their vehicle to the side of the roadway in the middle of the night.
Kim participated in the Boca EMS competition in 2012, MDA boot drive on 8/30/2012, Boca Fire Benevolent Golf Tournament in 2012, Santa Toy Drop in 2012, Sweetheart Ball in 2013, and the Department Fire Expo on 2/23/2013. Kim recently became a certified Child Passenger Seat Technician and has since assisted parents with at least 10 car seat installations.
Kim’s dedication to her coworkers are obvious as she precepts our probationary firefighter paramedics. She consistently receives new employees to train, supervise, and evaluate because of her commitment to excellence. Over the last three years she has trained 7 of our new employees. She spent several hours’ daily delivering medical knowledge and practice to each one of these employees. Each one has completed their probation successfully and has become outstanding employees. In addition to mentoring new employees on a daily basis, Lt. Puchalski reviews protocols, medication dosages, and equipment every day during the daily apparatus inventory and check off with the other members of her crew as well.
The above represents a typical year with Lieutenant Kim Puchalski who consistently displays the best of the fire service with her quality, compassion, superior work ethic, and courtesy. For all the reasons we chose Lt. Kim Puchalski as our 2013 Paramedic of the Year. Congratulations!
A ceremony will be held at time and date to be determined.
