_______________ east meadow ______________
COMMUNITY UPDATE Infections as of March 28
4,541
Infections as of March 19 4,389
$1.00
HERALD
EMHS soccer heats up
Find Easter eggs among the plants
An egg trail for the bunny in E.M.
Page 5
Page 14
Page 14
VOL. 21 NO. 14
APRIL 1 - 7, 2021
East Meadow trainer helps save a life lapses the way LoNigro did, there’s no time to waste. “Time is everything if he does have East Meadow athletic train- heart failure,” Fandale said. er Dan DeSimone and FarmingWhen DeSimone reached dale trainer Phil Fandale were LoNigro, he was lying on his at the right place at the right stomach, and breathing. A phytime at a varsity football game sician named Dr. Matthew Hellat Far mingdale er and DeSimone High School on checked his vitals, March 20 when Nasand when Fandale sau County football got there they official Phil LoNiturned him over to gro suddenly coldeter mine what lapsed. was wrong. The minute and Fandale, who a half or so that folsaid he has known lowed felt like forevLoNigro for years, er, DeSimone and didn’t know it was Fandale agreed, but him until LoNigro those precious sec- DAN DESIMONE was turned face-up. onds of teamwork East Meadow “I said, ‘Oh, jeez,’” s ave d L o N i g r o ’s athletic trainer Fandale recounted. life. “It kind of hit home “I didn’t see him for a minute.” collapse,” DeSimone said. Then LoNig ro stopped “There was a little bit of com- breathing, and had no pulse. motion, and I look over and “At that point, it was deterfrom where I was standing — I mined that we had to do CPR had to look through a few of and use the AED on him,” the players on the field. I saw DeSimone said. “We cut off his him laying there, so I ran out shirt, and I just started doing there as fast as I could to assess chest compressions on him what was going on.” without hesitation. Phil, at the Fandale said it was his first same time, was readying the instinct to grab the automated AED, putting the pads onto his external defibrillator, or AED, chest, and honestly, I don’t because when somebody colCONTINUED ON PAGE 3
By JENNIFER CORR jcorr@liherald.com
T
Laura Lane/Herald
PHARMACY INTERN EMILY Linehan inoculated Grace Bellomo, of Levittown, with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at Carman Drugs last Sunday.
Salisbury pharmacy makes it easier to get a Covid vaccine By LAURA LANE llane@liherald.com
When the Covid-19 vaccine first became available, Salisbury residents, like so many people everywhere, had a tough time booking appointments. Tom Vassel, who owns Carman Drugs with Robert Galli, said he wanted to help his customers who called often, inquiring about whether his pharmacy would offer the vaccine. Although Vassel moved to
the Town of Huntington a decade a go, he said he remained connected to Salisbury not only because his pharmacy is there, but also because it’s where he grew up. After vaccine distribution sites were announced — the Javits Center in Manhattan, Jones Beach, Stony Brook University — Vassel repeatedly called the State Department of Health, requesting that the vaccine be delivered to his pharmacy. At the same time, he assured his custom-
ers, many of whom said it would be difficult to travel to the mass vaccine sites, that he was making every effort to provide a more convenient location. When his efforts paid off, Vassel was jubilant. “We felt special when we had it,” he said. “We’ve been vaccinating people for the past few months, every Saturday and Sunday. We’re happy to help.” The pharmacy is still open CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
he past few days have been crazy — just a lot of processing.