*****This was Bill Comellas Eulogy at todays service, nice job Bill***** This is the text of the eulogy I had the honor of sharing with Kens friends and colleagues today: Many of you who met or knew Ken may have found him a bit gruff and intimidating at times. This no doubt comes from when he served our country in the United States Army when he served as a drill sergeant. I think this is where Ken first learned that teaching people was an opportunity to shape souls as well as knowledge. Of course, army training was something unto itself. One of Ken’s favorite stories was an anecdote in which he was reviewing his platoon while they stood at attention. One recruit dared to swat a mosquito as he stood in line. “Private! What did you just do?” Ken bellowed. “Killing a mosquito, sir!” “That was my pet mosquito! Everyone! We are going to look for the body of my pet mosquito! We’re going to have a funeral for it! On the ground and look, now!” Well, after having his troops crawl around on the ground for some period of time, someone came up with something resembling the carcass of a bug. “Sir, I found it, sir!” “Is it male or female?” Of course the hapless recruit had no idea. “Sir, male, sir!” “Bah! My pet mosquito was female! Keep looking!” And so they did, until at some point Ken had decided they had learned a little something about staying focused, functioning as a single unit, and never quitting. It was the embodiment of Ken’s outlook on life. He served his country in the Army Reserves until 1993. Somewhere during that time he decided it was time to quit cigarettes, and so he did. No gum or patches, he just made the decision and the cigarettes were gone that day. Ken could do anything he put his mind on. He went to volunteer at the Canandaigua Emergency Squad in 1983. No doubt he had learned about the value of serving his community from his mother who also had a long and distinguished tenure with that organization. How proud she was when her son joined her organization as well. Ken would earn a seat on the Finger Lakes Regional EMS Council and its training committee during this time. In the meantime, through the 1970’s and 1980’s Ken gained management experience in the retail food industry. It was in 1993 that these varied backgrounds would come together when an opportunity arose at Finger Lakes Ambulance in Clifton Springs, New York. Ken was hired as an ALS Technician. This would become a defining event in Ken’s life, for the remainder of his life would be spent defining this organization. It would become Ken Kelly; and the experiences and vision he had for what caring for people and emergency medical services could be. Ken rapidly rose through the ranks at Finger Lakes Ambulance and was appointed General Manager in 1998. Ken’s unique outlook became rapidly evident in how he ran Finger Lakes Ambulance. There were some key rules that were made clear to me when I joined the organization in 2003. The prime directive, was that regardless of our responsibilities in management, we were paramedics FIRST. Our first duty was to always respond to calls in the field when needed. That represented a radical departure from any other professional EMS organization I had worked at- where the senior managers wore a suit and tie and would never be expected to be field trained, let alone actually respond to calls. Ken would not hesitate to leave the office to cover calls and he made it clear he had the same expectations of his staff. He wanted only field-ready paramedics on his management staff, and you came to work ready to go on the road. His next rule was a variation on “The troops eat first” – a mantra first learned in the army. He would always ensure that the dispatcher was properly relieved for breaks or lunch, even if it meant sitting in the dispatch chair himself. He would join the field employees in sitting out on an ambulance long past when it would have been time to go home. The only exception to this was when he had to go teach paramedic class. Indeed, paramedic class. Ken founded the Finger Lakes Community College Paramedic Program in 1997 and became its lead instructor. The FLCC program quickly gained a reputation as the place to go to learn how to be a street paramedic – someone who had the tools and talent to immediately go on the road and save lives. Among the congregation today are dozens of outstanding practicing and former paramedics who owe their skill and knowledge to Ken. There are many more people, nameless today, whose lives were saved by Ken’s protégés. Equally important was the compassion that Ken taught for his patients. No lesson was complete without a reminder that paramedics cared for HUMAN BEINGS, real people with real parents and children who were far more than “chest pains”. Ken loved medicine. When he was not teaching or managing Finger Lakes Ambulance, you might find him reading up on medical history. In particular, he was fascinated by the Civil War and the history of the medical care for the war wounded. One of the most fascinating educational sessions we ever had at Finger Lakes was one led by a fellow Civil War buff which featured medical artifacts from the era. I started off mentioning that Ken could be a bit gruff and intimidating- but when you saw him care for patients and spend time with children you knew there was a big teddy bear in there. One of his favorite pastimes was spoiling his “adopted nephew” Dylan. His office was always adorned with a picture or two of him, and the office provided a great hiding place for the occasional birthday gift. There’s no question that Ken relished the role of the “fun uncle”. One of his happiest moments came just recently when he hosted children from the Irish Children’s Program in the summer of 2013. This was a program in which children from Northern Ireland could visit the United States. Ken’s own excitement was evident as he brought them to Finger Lakes Ambulance to show them EMS in America. Compassion was at the forefront of Ken’s goals when Finger Lakes Ambulance entered into a partnership with Ontario-Yates Hospice. Ken helped spearhead the development of a Community Paramedicine program in which paramedics were trained to supplement the care of hospice patients within the Ontario-Yates region. Ken sat alongside us and learned about end-of-life care and that death was a part of life, and there were things we could do for patients and their families facing death. The program was way ahead of its time, and was unheard of in 2003. Today Community Paramedicine programs are cropping up across the country in varying settings. The teachings of the Finger Lakes Ambulance Hospice program would stay with us all forever, and it is ironic that Ken’s idea in 2003 would provide the preparation for us to handle Ken’s own disease process now, and to ultimately say goodbye. And so that is why we are here today, to say goodbye to Ken. But he will live on in each and every one of us. He will be in the minds of those among us who teach others. Ken will be at the side of every EMT and paramedic in this audience today, as you go back out to do the job that Ken loved so well. And he will be in the heart of everyone, every time they extend a hand to someone in need of help. Thank you Ken for all you have taught us.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 18:50:01 +0000
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