Nikima Thompson, a mother of four died May 4 after being diagnosed with the virus on April 2. She was 41.
A dispatcher for the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Nikima Thompson, died of Coronavirus. Nikima was a dedicated 16-year veteran of BSO and the first communications operator to die in the line of duty in Florida.
Thompson was born in Miami and graduated from Miami Norland Senior High School in 1996. She joined the sheriff’s office in 2003.
“She was very vibrant, entertaining, fun,” said Joanne Alvarez, the Business Representative for the Federation of Public Employees, BSO Civilian Unit.
Dispatchers have always played an essential role in emergency medical services (EMS). At its most basic, the role of the dispatcher has been to identify the problem and the location of the patient, and then identify an ambulance that can be sent to the location.
David Allen Stone
passed away on Tuesday April 28, 2020.
He was 67 years old.
David Stone was a truly selfless human being and hero. He gave back to the community everyday as a Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness Specialist dedicated to the safety of staff, patients and visitors at Montefiore-Nyack Hospital. Dave was a liaison to EMS, Fire, and Police for Rockland County (NY) Emergency Preparedness. He brought with him a wealth of knowledge, experience and professionalism after a 30-year career with FDNY-EMS retiring as a Lieutenant and 9/11 First Responder. Prior to that Dave was a Director at Elmhurst Hospital.
A man who gave his life to the emergency services.
He was maintaining his 9-11 related illness
and lost his battle to COVID19.
“I read the book ‘Hyphema’ in one stretch. Very well researched and well written. The element of suspense was maintained throughout. I liked it very much. Great work.” ~ NS (5/11/2016)
“This is my first book by this author and I would read another one of her stories.
This is Matt, Sudah and Raja’s story. Matt is white and his wife is Pakistani. Matt is a paramedic. Sudah is a stay-at-home mum who takes care of their son, Aden, but she wants to finish her education.
The story is told mainly from Matt’s perspective and you can feel the love he has for his wife. Sudah appears to love her husband. She is a Muslim and very traditional in the way she treats Matt. She is very subservient to him although he does not require this from her.
Sudah asks her husband if her cousin can come from Pakistani and live in their home with them so she can go back to school. Matt knows in his heart this is a mistake but because he loves his wife he says yes. Raja brings trouble to their happy marriage.
In the meantime there is a deranged man seeking revenge against Matt. Every harassing activity perpetrated against Matt and his family makes everyone believe these events are happening because Sudah is a Pakistani and a Muslim; but nothing could be further from the truth.
I read the book in one sitting; it was a page turner and I had to discover what happened in the end. I found the story to be an emotional roller-coaster ride because I did not believe that Sudah’s love for Matt was as deep and as unconditional as Matt’s love was for her. Even though there is a happy ending, I could not enjoy it because I thought Matt had been short changed by Sudah’s lack of trust in him. She believed Raja over her husband who had never given her any cause to ever doubt him. I was cheering for team Matt.
What would have made this book a better read for me was to hear the story from Sudah’s perspective, as well, because it was very difficult to understand her reasoning at times.
“InHyphema, author Chelle Cordero meets headlong a number of real problems facing her characters. She doesn’t sugar-coat cultural differences and prejudice. The series of incidents and the deaths faced by Matt and Sudah cause them to face these problems and gives the love story a depth well-done.” —Janet Lane Walters
“Ms. Cordero tackles such amazingly current topics-hate, prejudice, fear of the different, with such enjoyable, suspenseful, and well-researched background, that this reader will be following her closely to see what she writes next. Each medical scene resonates with reality, and each chapter flows into the next with a flutter in the pit of the stomach for what is coming, as well as what has been.” —Brian Davidson
“Isat down to read Hyphema late one night. I thought I would start it, read for about thirty minutes and then go to sleep; instead, I stayed up till almost four in the morning reading it. Immediately immersed in the story, the tension never let up enough for me to even consider putting it down and coming back to it later.
Matt is an air ambulance EMT, a flight medic. He has just moved his son, and his Pakistani wife, to a small town in North Carolina from New York so he could have this job. The job is his dream job and Sudah, his wife, couldn’t be more supportive. She is patient, caring and so obviously in love with Matt and their son that it just spills over onto the page. She’s the kind of person I’d like to have for a neighbor, but not everyone, even within the circle of Matt’s work buddies and their wives feel that way, but Sudah handles the anger and prejudice with grace and softly spoken words meant to soften hearts and break down the walls of misunderstanding.
On one particularly heartbreaking call, Matt and his team are dispatched to a motor vehicle accident involving an SUV that had rolled over. The mother was unconscious, trapped in the car and her toddler son was bloody, unresponsive and pinned in the back in his car seat. To get to him they had to get the mother out.
Knowing there was no time to wait for fire trucks and ambulances Matt and his team pry open the car door and get the mother out, but when they get to the little boy, they realize he is dead. Wanting to be able to tell the mother when she regains consciousness that they had done everything possible to save her son, Matt opens IVs wide and begins CPR on the boys still warm body, handing the CPR off to an EMT on board Matt goes to work on the mother, trying to stabilize her condition. Even though the team does everything they can the little boy is pronounced DOA at the hospital. His devastated father comes into the ER and discovers that his son is dead when he wasn’t even supposed to be with his wife, her sister was supposed to be babysitting. Overcome with grief he screams how he’ll make everyone pay.
Life for Sudah is difficult at times, even though she is a happy person with an optimistic attitude. People won’t talk to her and sometimes call her names. Her own parents will not even recognize her marriage because it is a Muslim/Christian marriage. This is extremely hard on Sudah because she loves and misses her parents, but it becomes especially hard when they refuse to even accept a picture of their grandson because they view him as illegitimate.
Sudah becomes the victim of apparent hate crimes; a rock is thrown through their window when she is home alone with a message that appears to relate to 9/11 on it. Another note is found taped to the house after the family had been away, every time they report the incidents and every time they police act as though there is simply little to nothing to do. After one particularly frightening incident the police even threaten to arrest Matt for filing a false report because they think he is making it up to make the police look bad – a task they are managing quite well on their own.
Matt and Sudah face obstacles that severely test their relationship and their marriage. I do not want to go into anymore of the specifics here, but while Matt and Sudah’s relationship plays an important role in the book, the story is much more of an extremely well written thriller and I definitely recommend reading it.” — Tracy Riva
“ChelleCordero tackles a difficult subject this time in her latest release HYPHEMA: bleeding in the eye caused by trauma. A mystery thriller with love, prejudice, and first responders makes HYPHEMA a must read in this climate where compassion and understanding will lead toward peace.
Writing from years of experience as a first responder, Ms Cordero paints an accurate, thrilling story of the lives of flight medics in North Carolina.
Matt Garratti brings his wife, Pakistani born Sudah and their baby son to begin a new life. Before long, Matt wonders if he is bringing his family into a nightmare from which they may never wake.” — Charmaine Gordon
Janet M. Alonso 41 Stony Point NY Calixto Anaya Jr. 35 Suffern NY Japhet J. Aryee 49 Spring Valley NY Richard E. Bosco 34 Suffern NY Sgt. John Gerard Coughlin 43 Pomona NY Welles Remy Crowther 24 Upper Nyack NY John D’ Allara 47 Pearl River NY Bernard D. Favuzza 52 Suffern NY Thomas Foley 32 West Nyack NY Andrew Fredericks 40 Suffern NY Robert Joseph Gschaar 55 Spring Valley NY Dana Hannon 29 Suffern NY Capt. Frederick Ill Jr. 49 Pearl River NY Farah Jeudy 32 Spring Valley NY Joseph Marchbanks Jr. 47 Nanuet NY John Marshall 35 Congers NY Patricia A. McAneney 50 Pomona NY Robert Garvin McCarthy 33 Stony Point NY Robert William McPadden 30 Pearl River NY Luke G. Nee 44 Stony Point NY Gerald O’Leary 34 Stony Point NY David Ortiz 37 Nanuet NY Lt. Vernon Allan Richard 53 Nanuet NY Thomas G. Schoales 27 Stony Point NY Mohammed Shajahan 41 Spring Valley NY Gregory Sikorsky 34 Spring Valley NY Catherine T. Smith 44 West Haverstraw NY Robert W. Spear Jr. 30 Valley Cottage NY Loretta A, Vero 51 Nanuet NY Benjamin Walker 41 Suffern NY Weibin Wang 41 Orangeburg NY Steven Weinberg 41 New City NY
In July 2014 the News York Post reported that more than 2500 first responders [police, fire and EMS] had developed Cancer and respiratory illnesses from the exposure to Ground Zero dust – Many have died.
Hi! I managed to get Matt Garatti off of the Hyphema pages long enough to answer some questions that I thought would interest our readers, but, ssh… he doesn’t know that I am the one asking questions — he thought he was making time for some famous journalist. I hope you enjoy getting to know more about him.
What is the name of the book where we would meet you? What genre is it?
My story is in Hyphema; a hyphema is blood in the front chamber of the eye usually from an injury and the story’s title comes from a line in the book. English is my wife’s second language and she has trouble with some common American idioms; at one point she refers to the expression “an eye for an eye” and she comments that makes for bloody eyes. I actually was introduced in the book Final Sin, another Chelle Cordero novel. Both books are EMS-based thrillers.
What do you think of the author? You can tell us the truth.
Once you get past her ego, you realize she is very passionate about what she does. I have to say as one of her characters, she really loves us, we can feel that and I’m sure the readers can, too.
Tell us a little about yourself. How would you describe your appearance? Give us enough detail to get a clear idea of how you look.
I think I am sort of average, my wife thinks I am “handsome in my uniform” — I’m a flight paramedic so I wear a uniform every working day. I’m pretty fit, I have to be considering my line of work, and I’m trim, again I have to be as a flight medic. Other than that I have dark hair, I keep it cropped pretty short, I stand about five-eleven, and I’ve been told I look a little like that actor Justin Chambers… I think he’s on some TV medical show, I don’t see it.
What character are you in the book? Are you the hero, the best friend, the side kick, the hero/heroine’s child or someone else?
In Hyphema I’m the hero, in Final Sin I’m the best friend.
Who was your best friend in Final Sin? What brought you together as friends?
I was best friends with Julie Jennings, the female lead character in Final Sin. Julie and I were paramedic partners and we rode together for our job. When you spend a lot of time with someone in a job like that you learn to depend on each other while you work to save lives. It’s very high stress and your partner is the one who understands because they are there right alongside you. There’ve been a lot of jokes about your EMS partner being the equivalent of a work spouse.
Is there a specific reason why you’re in the story? Don’t give us any story spoilers, but you can share some teasers if you want.
By the end of Final Sin I had met and married my wife, Sudah. I was also looking for some kind of career advancement. When Hyphema opens, we’ve just moved to North Carolina and I have a job as a flight medic. Like the tagline indicates, I worry that I brought my family to a new place where we deal with unexpected prejudice and possible danger.
What time period do you live in?
It’s pretty much contemporary, that’s the kind of stories that Chelle writes, although I have a really ironic story about that. My wife was born in Pakistan and she’s a practicing Muslim; we run into quite a bit of prejudice because of 9/11. There’s a scene where my buddy’s wife yells at Sudah that the Pakistanis are hiding Osama Bin Laden; ironically the e-book came out the week before Bin Laden was finally found… in Pakistan.
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in New York State, central New York to be exact.
Do you live in the same place now?
Nope. Sudah and I, and our son Aden, moved to North Carolina. We’re a bit inland from the Outer Banks. It’s a really nice area and I love to take them exploring.
What special skills or abilities do you have?
I’m a paramedic turned flight medic. Being a paramedic is never boring. I enjoy the excitement and I meet a lot of people in my work. I’m there for them when they need help; I use the skills I’ve been taught to save lives, offer reassurance and sometimes just offer comfort. I admit, I feel good when I get to help someone.
Are you happy with the story?
Yes I am. Chelle was a NYS Emergency Medical Technician for almost 30-years so she is really familiar with the type of things EMS responders do. The story is all very realistic. The way she deals with the cultural differences and prejudice is really down to earth and significant.
Do you have some ideas that the author should consider about the story? You can share them with us. We’re all friends here.
I know that Chelle is busy writing some other stories with other characters, they’re pretty good also, but I would love to see another EMS story. Maybe Julie and Jake could come down from New York and I could get to work with Julie again. That would be fun.
Tell us about your past. Can you share one really good experience and/or one really bad experience? I know that bad experience can be tough, but it would tell us more about what you’ve been through.
Well the bad part of my past, I used to not be able to talk about it, was that my father abandoned us when I was just a little kid. I was always afraid that I was going to grow up and be like him. I was really scared of having a family. When Sudah first told me that she was pregnant with our son I was really scared, but she showed me that I could be a good dad. She helped me to see that there is a difference in fathering a child biologically and being a dad who really loves his kid.
Who is the most important person in your life?
I’d have to say that my wife is the most important person. She really has opened up a whole new world to me. She taught me how to love, I know that probably sounds sappy, but, she has made me very happy.
What do you see in your future?
I love working as a flight medic, I dreamt of doing this kind of work ever since I rode in an ambulance for the first time. I also like the company I’m working for. Eventually I’d like it if Sudah and I had another child or two. I just want to provide for my family and watch our children grow with my wife.
Do you like being a character in a book?
You know, I really don’t think of myself as just a character in a book. My life, my job and my family feel real to me. When Chelle created each of us in her mind she didn’t just give us lives for the beginning and end of the manuscript — she came up with real histories for each of us. I feel like I existed long before Hyphema’s epilogue, even long before I first appeared in Final Sin.
If someone ever decides to make a movie based on your story, who should play you in the movie and why?
I guess we could give that actor Justin Chambers a crack at it, after all people think he and I resemble each other anyway, and I’ve seen a show or two he’s been in and he’s not too bad an actor either.
Jews and Jewishness in British Children’s Literature
(Children’s Literature and Culture)
by Madelyn Travis
In a period of ongoing debate about faith, identity, migration and culture, this timely study explores the often politicised nature of constructions of one of Britain’s longest standing minority communities. Representations in children’s literature influenced by the impact of the Enlightenment, the Empire, the Holocaust and 9/11 reveal an ongoing concern with establishing, maintaining or problematising the boundaries between Jews and Gentiles. Chapters on gender, refugees, multiculturalism and historical fiction argue that literature for young people demonstrates that the position of Jews in Britain has been ambivalent, and that this ambivalence has persisted to a surprising degree in view of the dramatic socio-cultural changes that have taken place over two centuries.
Wide-ranging in scope and interdisciplinary in approach, Jews and Jewishness in British Children’s Literature discusses over one hundred texts ranging from picture books to young adult fiction and realism to fantasy. Madelyn Travis examines rare eighteenth- and nineteenth-century material plus works by authors including Maria Edgeworth, E. Nesbit, Rudyard Kipling, Richmal Crompton, Lynne Reid Banks, Michael Rosen and others. The study also draws on Travis’s previously unpublished interviews with authors including Adele Geras, Eva Ibbotson, Ann Jungman and Judith Kerr.
About the Author
Madelyn J. Travis is an Associate Research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She has published on historical and contemporary British and American children’s literature and is currently researching Jewish childhood in England. This is her first book.
Review
‘An original and significant addition to understanding of the interaction of British culture with the Jews and “Jews.”‘ – Professor David Feldman, author of Englishmen and Jews: Social Relations and Political Culture1840-1914
Amazon Review
Innovation, insight and interest reviewed by R. White
Madelyn Travis has produced an outstanding work of scholarship, at its heart the most important driver of all – innovative insight. In `Jews and Jewishness in British Children’s Literature’ we are gifted a complex, well-argued work that carries within it messages far beyond children’s literature – for it examines the translation of a troubling issue for adults into the world of fiction for the young, where its impact will be formative.
This book delivers a shock, though, in its detailed, well-argued unfolding of the persistence of Semitic and anti-Semitic stereotypes, and in its revelation of how ready they can be to spring up out of earth thought cleansed at last. Cited in the book, the resigned yet all-too understandably embittered phrase “The closed season on Jews is over”, is haunting – not least because of its recent provenance. And yet one can see a basic literary problem facing modern authors of clear sight and goodwill – how do you resist a poisoned stereotype (is that tautology?) without first describing or at least somehow encompassing it? And what might you unleash when you do?
It’s also revelatory to read of modern authors yielding to the seductive power of this image (the “bad Jew” etc.) Sadly, all Gentiles – like the present writer – have the potential for this corruption in them, though obviously the key point is what an individual does (and doesn’t) do about it. It would seem in the end far better for a writer to deny to her/his pages such a “stereotrap” – how much harm would that do, either artistically or didactically? Surprising, too, is Travis’ finding that so few have used the nature of being Jewish as an affirmative thing – to make, say, a work that tells of a journey from knee-jerk dislike to acceptance and understanding. Jewish culture and faith is so deep that would surely succeed, by simply presenting difference as rewarding, creative, stimulating – which, approached with an open heart, always enriches. Any Gentile who has, for example, attended shiva to commemorate the life of a departed person, will have found the firm but gentle inclusivity of the ceremony truly moving.
The insights `Jews and Jewishness in British Children’s Literature’ offers are often troubling, but for that very reason of great value. It should be a first starting point for anyone writing on such subjects, in fiction or in academe, and there is little doubt it will become a seminal text. Its originality and insightful power will readily ensure that.
A Potpourri of Promos, Book Talk, Entertainment & Articles of Interest from Chelle Cordero 