Matt Whitaker named Basic Life Support Provider of the Year

Since the age of 10, Matt Whitaker knew that he wanted to be a paramedic someday. He was surrounded by family members who were emergency medical technicians (EMTs) in Trumansburg, where he grew up, and he often had the opportunity to go out on ambulance calls with them.

Although Matt’s parents, Kenneth Whitaker, Jr., and Ronde Potter, were not involved, his grandfather, Kenneth Whitaker, Sr., was a volunteer with the Trumansburg Fire Department. His uncle, Keith, and aunt, Terri Whitaker, were also both EMTs.

“My sister, Jessica Dugeon, was in color guard,” Matt said, “and when my family would go to watch her, I would always end up gravitating over to where the ambulance was on standby and hang out there instead!”

As things turned out, Matt moved to Groton to live with his sister in December 2018 and has lived here ever since, but his prior experiences positioned him well for his current role as a captain for the Citizens Hook & Ladder Company 3 in the Groton Fire Department (GFD), as an EMT and as the recipient of the Basic Life Support (BLS) Provider of the Year award for the Central New York (CNY) region.

Matt graduated from Trumansburg High School in 2016 and from Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). He played football in his freshman year and was a member of the National Technical Honor Society at TST-BOCES.

“When I turned 16, I joined the Trumansburg Fire Department, and I earned my EMT certificate in January 2016 while I was still in high school,” Matt said. “After high school, I worked as a CNA for about a year at Cayuga Ridge Nursing and Rehab Center in Ithaca before moving to Brattleboro, Vermont, to take a similar position at Pine Heights Nursing Home.”

Matt worked at Pine Heights for about eight months. Unfortunately, his career took a forced hiatus when he was involved in a car accident in March 2018 that resulted in some time spent in Springfield Hospital with a broken left femur and right forearm, which required multiple surgeries.

Fortunately, Matt was able to work at Springfield Hospital as an emergency room technician during part of his recovery and rehabilitation. He returned to Groton and moved in with his sister, Jessica, at the end of 2018.

“I ended up working at the Kwik-Fill in Groton,” Matt said, “and Lee Shurtleff came in every day for coffee. I knew him from meeting him and seeing him at fire banquets in Trumansburg because he was the fire coordinator back then.”

Matt worked at Kwik-Fill for about a year, seeing Shurtleff every day. Before the end of that year, Matt had asked Shurtleff for an application to join the GFD and was voted in as a firefighter in December 2019.

The next stop on Matt’s career path brought him to the Franziska Racker Center, where he remained for the next two years, working with developmentally disabled people as a direct support specialist.

“In the meantime, I went for an EMT refresher course in 2021,” Matt said. “Then, I left Racker to become the code officer for the Village of Groton until this past January. I got a full-time position as an EMT with Four-Town First Aid Squad in Moravia.”

Now Matt is fully in his element by day and just as fully involved in giving his all to Groton – bringing him to the point of receiving the BLS Provider of the Year award for the CNY region – an award he was nominated for by Michael Lockwood, 1st assistant chief and emergency medical services (EMS) chief for the GFD.

“In my role as EMS chief with the GFD, I received a notification from the Central New York Regional Council about their EMS awards application,” Lockwood said. “I actually filled out several applications for their different awards. I am biased, but I feel our department and our people are some of the best in the state. I nominated Matthew Whitaker for the BLS Provider of the Year award, without his knowledge, for many reasons. Matt played a large role the previous year. He would volunteer to drive several nights a week, including all day Saturday, and provided EMS coverage for peewee football all the way up to varsity football. Matt has also responded with our second ambulance if our current ambulance was already out on a call or there was no medic on duty. Matt also has taken an active role in training, particularly with EMS. He has assisted in department training and assisted in the EMT training course taught by TLC and hosted at Groton Central Schools in their STEAM lab.” 

Matt was recently informed that he is the recipient of the award, and he will officially receive it Sept. 19 at the CNY Regional EMS Council award ceremony and dinner, which will be held at the AMR (American Medical Response) building in Syracuse.

Matt was so stunned to learn that he had won the award that he thought someone was playing a joke on him. Once he learned it was real, he was, and continues to be, very humbled by it.

“Simply put, Matt has been, and continues to be, a vital asset to our fire department,” Lockwood said. “I was extremely elated that he won, as he is more than deserving of the award.”

Groton on the Inside appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Submit story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com or text or call Linda at 607-227-4922. 

In brief:

Fundraiser for Mike Elster

On the morning of Aug. 20, the Elster family suffered a heart-wrenching event. Mike Elster was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. He had a massive heart attack, and his main artery was 100% blocked.

Elster has been an active part of our community and has a caring heart. He was a participant in many bowling and golf leagues, a volunteer for the Groton Fire Department for 20-plus years, a previous commander of the Sons of American Legion in Groton for 10-plus years and an active member of the Tri-County Horseshoe Club. 

Elster has a long road to recovery ahead of him and will be out of work for an undetermined amount of time. In addition to regular household bills, he will now have hospital bills and future medical bills for his continued care, as well as many costly lifetime medications and cardiac rehab for the next 18 weeks.

His family has organized a GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/c0658068 for anyone who wishes to help.

Thanks from Groton American Legion Post 800

Groton American Legion Post 800 would like to thank everyone who came to the Legion this summer, both for its Summer Concert Series, cosponsored by Groton Recreation, and for Groton Olde Home Days (GOHD), with bands sponsored by Tompkins-Cortland Real Estate and the First National Bank of Groton. These were very successful events for the Legion, and its officers sincerely hope that you all enjoyed them. 

The post would also like to thank the several food trucks that participated in these events, as well as the Groton Fire Department for operating the food concession during GOHD. 

Supporting the community and community events like these is one of the goals of the American Legion, and Groton Post 800 is grateful for the opportunity to offer these events.

It will now start planning for next year! If anyone has any suggestions for improving any of these events, please don’t hesitate to let any officer know. Thanks again for your support and participation.

Volleyball fundraiser

The Groton Jr./Sr. High School volleyball team is running an apparel fundraiser to raise money for the team. If you are interested, visit kateesdesign.square.site  to take a look! 

The fundraiser will run through the end of the day on Labor Day, Sept. 4. Items will be available for three weeks after the store closes. The team will contact people about delivering their purchases. 

Thank you in advance from the team for your support!