Suffolk emergency medical services council honors first responders

Joshua Zeltmann, 39, of East Northport said he doesn’t remember much about the morning of Sept. 20, 2020, other than it started like a typical Sunday, with Zeltmann expecting to do some concrete work around the house with his brother later that day.

However, around 9 a.m., he vaguely recalled feeling shortness of breath. The next thing he knew, he woke up in a hospital five days later, having gone into cardiac arrest that Sunday, with little recollection of what happened.

"I was in disbelief. One hundred percent disbelief. They broke the news to me in the hospital and I just couldn’t believe it. When my wife told me, it finally clicked," Zeltmann said.

His wife, Maria Zeltmann, 38, saw him hyperventilating before she called 911 and paramedics and personnel from the Dix Hills Fire Department arrived at their East Northport home. Once there, emergency staff defibrillated Joshua Zeltmann five times, administered manual and mechanical CPR, an IV and medications until his pulse returned and his blood pressure normalized.

"It was stressful, but I’m very grateful that he’s here and in front of me," Maria Zeltmann said.

The Zeltmanns had a chance to once again meet with the first responders who saved Joshua Zeltmann’s life during a ceremony Saturday in Dix Hills. The event was hosted by the Suffolk Regional Emergency Medical Services Council to honor first responders and agencies throughout Suffolk County for working together to save citizens' lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zeltmann said he met Scott DiPino, a second assistant chief with the Dix Hills Fire Department who was on the scene that day, prior to Saturday and he had thanked him profusely. When Zeltmann was offered the chance to say a few words at the ceremony, he found it too emotional.

"I wasn’t going to be the guy to say anything onstage because it would have been instant tears, and nobody needed that today on a joyous day," Zeltmann said with a chuckle after the ceremony.

Other agencies' honored first responders included the Sayville Community Ambulance, Bay Shore Brightwaters Rescue, and the East Farmingdale, Ridge and Greenport fire departments, among others.

DiPino also participated in a rescue on July 20 last year, when Arsim Mavraj, a construction worker from Holtsville, was driving his pickup truck on the Long Island Expressway coming back from work when it rolled over. Mavraj, found by first responders at the scene to be in cardiac arrest, was saved by CPR and advanced life support.

"If it wasn’t for these guys, I wouldn’t be here," said Mavraj, 43, a married Armenian immigrant and father of two, at the ceremony.

For DiPino, it was reward enough to see people living well after being saved by first responders like himself.

"We do a lot of hard work every day training and so forth, and to see the fruits of our labor, being able to bring someone back from a serious medical condition, and the fact that he’s here to meet us today leading a purposeful life back with his family is one of the best gifts that could ever be given back to a first responder," DiPino said.