When the weather outside is frightful and the fire is so delightful — most of us have the luxury of staying home for a “snow day.”
Other people can’t enjoy that luxury. Those whose job it is to protect public safety — keeping roads open during a blizzard, rescuing accident victims and cardiac patients, caring for the sick and the elderly, fighting fires, enforcing the law… and all too often protecting us from our own stupidity — must report to work regardless of the blizzard. No matter what the weather, they have to be there for us. It’s business as usual for just about every department at Eastern Long Island Hospital, whether it’s sunny and 70 degrees or 20 degrees with 50 mph winds and thunder snow. It has to be business as usual too for the dedicated cadre of volunteers that make up our fire departments and rescue squads. That’s why they stand by at their headquarters for the duration of a storm, to ensure that they can respond to any emergency.
These are our community’s unsung heroes. We asked them to pause from their duties today and snap some photos for this slideshow. Missing from these photos are the highway department crew members driving their plow trucks, battling the blowing, drifting snow. Also missing from these photos are the men and women in our police department, who brave the weather to come to the aid of community members who need their help.
We salute these unsung heroes and thank them for what they do, today and every day.
