News

On Saturday, September 5,  2015, teenager Ben Sawczuck and his family were reunited with the rescuers who provided life saving care to him after being involved in a very serious bicycle accident on August 17, 2007, in South Bethany on Route 1 and 9th Street sustaining very critical injuries.  Ben, who is now 16 years old, still has no memory of the incident.  This emergency occurred during the time Bethany Beach did not have its own EMS department and was covered by the Millville Volunteer Fire Company.  Due to the category of calls being received in regards to the accident, the Sussex County Paramedics and Delaware State Police medical helicopter Trooper 2 were already alerted and enroute to the accident scene, as well as the ambulance crew from Millville.  The Bethany Beach Fire Company personnel set up a perimeter for a landing zone, as well as maintaining traffic control.  Once Ben was loaded into Trooper 2, the decision was made to fly him to the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Unit in Baltimore, Maryland where he was tended to by world renown Pediatric Neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson.  On this day, Ben, his mother and father Joanne and Dave Sawczuck , and sister were back  in Bethany Beach and were reunited with Ben's rescuers from that near tragic day in August.  The individuals in attendance who were on the scene that day with Ben were: Amy Willey, Millville Vol Fire Co. EMT-B; Jonathan Offen, Sussex County Paramedic; Jeff Cox, Sussex County Paramedic who helped care for Ben in Trooper 2 on the way to Baltimore; & Brian McConologue, a Bethany Beach Firefighter who is an EMT-B for Millville and assisted the ambulance crew after arriving at the scene.   Mickey Wisseman, the other EMT-B that day on the Millville ambulance crew, arrived after the Sawczuck family had left.  There was a lot of embracing, hand-shaking and acknowledgements being shared by Ben, his parents and the rescue personnel. Mr. Sawczuck declared Johns Hopkins medical personal stated that the life-sustaining treatment afforded by the Sussex Paramedics and Millville’s Ambulance crew at the scene resulted in Ben’s successful recovery. The paramedics and fire personnel were exceptionally grateful for the magnitude of comments rendered by the Sawczuck family. Bethany Beach Fire Company Chief Brian Martin presented Ben with several Bethany Beach Fire Company tee-shirts and a ball cap embossed with the Bethany Beach Fire Company logo. PIO Bob Powell was in attendance to represent the Millville Fire Company. In addition to these surprise gifts and all those personnel who attended, Sussex County Paramedic Jeff Cox presented Ben with a framed photograph of the accident scene while he was being placed into the helicopter.  Paramedic Cox stated he had kept that picture in his phone all these years in the hope that someday he would be able to present it to Ben, and today he was able to do that!  "DEDICATED VOLUNTEERS PROUDLY SERVING OUR COMMUNITY!"