By Molly Lovell
Editor
      Public safety employees are forever working for the good of the residents in the towns they serve; yet at the same time they often go unrecognized for their day-to-day duties. Scarborough honored these employees at an awards banquet on April 28.
     The list of recognitions was long, and the Leader wanted to sit down with each of them, but we chose to talk with Scarborough’s Paramedic and Fire Fighter of the year, Cindy Gorham and Erin Stone respectively.
     Gorham began her career in public safety as an EMS volunteer roughly 20 years ago. She became active in the Bar Mills rescue operation after which she said she was “hooked”.
     She has been a paramedic in Scarborough for four years and said last month’s award was completely unexpected. Gorham wasn’t even in town for the awards banquet; she was attending fire training in Pennsylvania. “I started getting all these messages on my cell phone (about the award). It was awesome,” she said.
     Deputy Chief Anthony Attardo said each award category has a select set of criteria and a peer must nominate a person. In terms of criteria for the Paramedic of the Year, the award recipient must display cooperation, loyalty, excellent patient care and customer service, among other things.
     Attardo read from Gorham’s nomination papers: “If citizens of Scarborough could see Cindy in her day to day functions, they would quickly realize how blessed they are to have her.” Some of the words the person used to describe Gorham were unselfish, caring, professional and motivated.
     Attardo said Gorham is always motivated and is constantly looking at the bright side of things. “Certainly from an administrative standpoint, that’s great.” Attardo said he agrees with everything in Gorham’s nomination papers. “She is all of that and more,” he said.
     The person who nominated Gorham said she is always smiling and is on top of keeping her crew motivated; no one has ever second-guessed her paramedic skills and one of her major strengths is working with pediatric patients.
     Perhaps the reason for Gorham’s skills with young patients is because she has five kids of her own. The age range among her children is 11 through 18. She works 24-hour shifts so she said her husband helps out a lot. Gorham said all of her children have said they are proud of what she does and her youngest girl wants to be a firefighter when she grows up.
     Some people who have worked in public safety for a number of years might be able to account for instances of discrimination toward women entering the field, and Gorham is one of them. Years ago she applied for a job at a department notorious for not hiring women and didn’t get the job.
     Gorham said as far as she knew, they were worried she couldn’t be relied on to give them support. She recognized that being a firefighter and paramedic is a predominantly male job. The equipment is geared toward men and she said it’s sometimes tough for her to reach things.
     “You just have to be willing to adapt and go with the flow. If you want respect you have to earn it,” she said. She said earning respect goes for both men and women in the profession.
     In terms of being a woman in the field, Gorham said it takes a certain type. “This business is not a frou-frou type of job. If a woman is going to act like that, it’s not the job for her,” she said.
     Gorham said the best part of her job is witnessing people helping others and “everyday people making a difference.” She also likes the challenge and the adrenaline rush of the job. “No one wants to see anyone hurt, but if you’re trained and know what you’re doing, the challenge can be very rewarding,” she said.
     The one pet peeve about her job is something that she said could be easily remedied on the public’s part. “It’s the traffic, people don’t pull over and they don’t stop,” she said.
     “When we’re going to an emergency we can’t control the traffic. People are either not conscience about pulling over or they’re being very disrespectful of us,” Gorham said, adding that the most dangerous time for an emergency worker is en route to a situation.
     Erin Stone, Scarborough’s Firefighter of the Year, has been working in the town for two years as an on call person. She is also a full-time firefighter in Old Orchard Beach.
     Lieutenant Richard Lamontagne, a 28-year veteran of the Scarborough Fire Department, nominated Stone for the award. “It used to be that some people weren’t too sure about having girls in the fire service, with Erin Stone, that would lay any of that to rest. You wouldn’t even give it another thought,” he said.
     Lamontagne said she can do everything any other firefighter can do. “I would go into a building with her in a heartbeat,” he said.
     Lamontagne described Stone as “super intelligent.” He said it’s sometimes difficult finding training instructors but when there is a shortage, Stone always “steps up to the plate.” He also said when it comes to new or specialty equipment, Stone reads the booklet and is able to retain everything quickly to teach to her fellow firefighters.
     Stone began her career in public safety as a paramedic and since gaining more experience in the firefighting side of the profession, called it an “equal love.”