Page 89: of Marine News Magazine (November 2017)

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FERRY OPERATIONS vessel soon thereafter had capsized. the cries for help, and I reacted. Once ? cer or Fireman. And, anyone who

Three children could be seen in the I got in the water I was sort of stunned has worked on the waterfront and/or water, along with two adults, but one – but something took over and I am at sea knows that there are few things child still was missing. The father of just thankful I was able to help ? nd the that prepare you better for a ? rst re- the children was screaming for help little girl and get her out safely.” sponder’s position than time spent in to ? nd his missing young daughter The crisis could very easily have a marine-related billet. “I like to help and Suarez immediately jumped in to gone the other way. According to Su- people, and I feel that I can ful? ll my help. “I swam over and I tried to ? ip arez, the little girl’s PFD was too big, potential to help as many people as pos- the capsized boat and in doing that, and it didn’t help her. And, he said, sible in that ? eld. But in the meantime,

I was able to feel her shoulder,” ex- “The waterfront is a beautiful place to I plan on doing all I can to advance in plained Suarez, continuing, “So, once be – but if not prepared, it could end the marine industry and would love to

I felt this – I was able to dive down terribly. I am grateful to have been become a First Of? cer or Captain one and grab under her and pulled her up in the right place at the right time. day if the opportunity arises. I enjoy to the surface. She was tangled in the In truth, I was covering for a differ- working by the water very much.” vessel’s tackle and I had to unwrap her ent employee who asked me to switch Ultimately, Statue Cruises hopes before we could swim to the sea wall.” shifts with him as a favor. I think ev- that they don’t lose Kevin Suarez to

At this point, the Harbor units erything happens for a reason – I can’t the police or ? re department(s). But, came quickly and swept Suarez and explain it better than that.” if so, those ? rst responders will get a the child into their vessels and took Looking ahead, Suarez says his ul- good man – exactly the kind of pro- them to the other side of the island timate goal is to become a Police Of- fessional that the waterfront develops. where the ambulances were waiting.

Suarez adds, “Once we were out of the police boats, I helped translate Span- ish to English for the EMT personnel.

From there, we went to the hospital to get checked out.”

The event underscores the impor- tance of drills and training. In this case,

Kevin’s training ensured that he was well versed in knowing the importance of personal ? otation devices (PFD), and where the ring buoy was located in case it was needed. Ultimately, it was this training that helped him to advance to the position of Deckhand.

The Right Place at the Right Time

The PVA award – given this past

January at the annual PVA convention - rounds out the honors Suarez has re- ceived in just this year alone. The PVA award, however, is the namesake of one of PVA’s all time most beloved mem- bers, Captain Elizabeth Gedney. Dur- ing her time of service at PVA, Gedney embodied ‘safety’ every day at PVA.

As for Kevin Suarez, he shrugs off his heroism by saying, “It happened so fast

I didn’t have time to think. I just heard 89 www.marinelink.com MN