Willow Road is ready for the worst

The Valley Stream Kiwanis Club donated its fourth pediatric trauma kit to a local school through a partnership with Monica Village. Willow Road School in District 13 was the recipient.

Kiwanis has already outfitted local emergency vehicles with these trauma kits, and has now moved on to the schools. Blessed Sacrament, Holy Name of Mary and Wheeler Avenue schools were the first three to receive kits.

Willow Road Principal Stephanie Capozzoli and nurse Diane Byrnes were on hand to accept the trauma kit on Jan. 13 at Monica Village. “It’s comforting to know that we’re well prepared,” Capozzoli said.

Each kit requires a $1,000 donation to the pediatric trauma center at North Shore Hospital in Manhasset. Money is used to train emergency personnel on how to properly use these kits. The crochet club at Monica Village uses the proceeds from its craft sales to make the donation.

Lucille Moran, executive director of Monica Village, said the crochet club has already raised about half the money needed for a fifth trauma kit. She said the ladies hope to achieve their goal during their next sale, which will be held in April and feature hand-knitted items such as blankets, scarves, hats and sweaters.

Moran, who is a member of the Valley Stream Kiwanis Club, had the idea of using the crochet club’s proceeds to secure trauma kits for the schools. Dorothy Lambiaso-Artemisio, president of the club, thought it was a great suggestion. “We were making the money and we didn’t know what to do with it,” she said.

All seven of Lambiaso-Artemisio’s children went to Valley Stream schools. And as the grandmother of 14, she supports the effort to help children. “It’s a precious thing, the life of a child,” she said.

Al Bevilacqua, past governor of the New York State Kiwanis, thanked the members of the crochet club for their efforts over the past few years. “If we save one child’s life from all that you do, it’s well worth it,” he said.

The Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Center at North Shore Hospital opened in 1991 because there was a need for specialized trauma care for children. The kits, Bevilacqua said, were created because adult-sized trauma equipment was often doing more harm than good when used on a child.

Every item in the duffle bag provided to Willow Road School is child-sized. Beviliacqua said those kits are put together through donations from a volunteer group in Manhasset who raise the money through bake sales and Chinese auctions.

Byrnes said that the trauma kit will be kept in her office at Willow Road School. She explained that there have been instances where students have broken bones and this kit will come in handy if that happens again. The school does have some items handy in case of an emergency but nothing as sophisticated as the kit that the Kiwanis Club gave to the school.

Willow Road School has about 500 students in kindergarten though sixth-grade.

Frank Farella, of the Kiwanis Club, said the goal is to eventually get a kit to every elementary school in Valley Stream. He said it is undecided which school will be next. The Board of Education must approve the donation before school officials can accept it.

Moran said the crochet club, which meets every Wednesday, has the same goal. The group of more than a dozen women want to make sure that children in the local schools are safe and will keep knitting for the cause. “The bottom line is they love what they’re doing,” Moran said, “and now they have a purpose.”