Burrell among Hometown Heroes

Former Vernon Mayor Howard Burrell and a group of health-care professionals in Newton Medical Center’s Emergency Department were honored as Hometown Heroes by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-5.

Recognized at a ceremony July 15 at the Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee were more than 20 honorees, including first-responders, veterans, volunteers, community leaders and residents of the Fifth Congressional District.

Gottheimer thanked them for helping to improve the lives of their neighbors, families and communities.

Among them was John Pecoraro, who helped remove rubble from the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, and has served for more than 50 years on the Paramus Rescue Squad, and Matthew Letizia, an emergency medicine physician who coordinated more than 40 blood drives to support people with blood cancers like his late father.

“If you look hard enough, you can see incredible stories of hope in our communities everyday: the EMT who has saved countless lives and volunteered decades of service and the young student going above and beyond to help her fellow classmates,” Gottheimer said.

“Even in the face of our country’s challenges, we need to spend more time showcasing all of the good that happens every day - and recognizing what it means to be a great citizen in the greatest country in the world.”

Hospital Easter egg hunt

Rebecca Wright, Linda Geremia, Evelyn Montes-Hernandez, David GaNung, Tyler Miller and Dylan Mann of Newton Medical Center’s Emergency Department were honored for helping patients recover after some of the most challenging injuries.

“They’ve stood out as exceptional, compassionate health-care professionals who go above and beyond to keep patients safe and help them heal,” the congressman said.

During the Easter holiday, Wright, Geremia, Mann and Montes-Hernandez were taking care of a pediatric behavioral health patient who had been in the Emergency Department for two weeks.

They wanted to do something to lift the boy’s spirits and make Easter special, so they set up an Easter egg hunt in the behavioral health courtyard. The young patient was ecstatic.

Miller and GaNung accompanied the patient through the hunt and made the day one to remember.

Burrell left the Vernon mayor’s post in January at the end of his four-year term.

He has been a commissioner of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission since 2013.

After serving 11 years in the Air Force, he earned a doctorate in psychology, then worked as an assistant director in the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development, special assistant to the president of Felician University and an adjunct professor in social sciences at Centenary University.

He is a member of Gottheimer’s Fifth District Service Academy Nomination Selection Committee and the local Selective Service System Board for New Jersey and a trustee of the Northern New Jersey Veterans Memorial Cemetery.