NEW JERSEY COPS n FEBRUARY 2014
45
A Job Well Done
A heartfelt gift
Beachwood Local’s Melillo saves the life of a fellow first responder
n BY DONNA WEAVER
Beachwood Police Sergeant and Local 253 member Frank
Melillo reflected on the best gift from this past Christmas: Volunteer firefighter Charles Borges spent another holiday with his
family after almost dying of a heart attack in July.
Melillo said he was just doing his job - what he and his fellow officers are trained to do every day. But Borges and his family see it as so much more than that.
When Melillo rolled up to the call that hot afternoon, he had
no idea that he would make a connection with two men who
are part of his public safety family. On July 29, while supervising
the day shift, Melillo received a call from dispatch for officers to
respond to a home in Beachwood for a man who was having
difficulty breathing.
“All the patrolmen were on other calls and I was the only car
available,” Melillo said.
When he arrived at the home, Melillo was prepared for what
he was about to encounter after having extensive on the job
training and instruction of the use of a defibrillator.
Inside the home, however, the situation was grim. Borges’
mother-in-law directed Melillo to the bathroom where he
found 45-year-old lying face up on the floor with no signs of life.
Melillo didn’t have enough space to work on Borges in the
small bathroom, so he had to drag his lifeless body into the hallway, which was also tight. He continued to move him, finally
finding the living room where he could effectively work on his
dying public safety brother.
“I checked for life and attached the AED. The patient had no
pulse, I activated the AED and delivered one shock and conducted CPR on the victim,” Melillo said.
The sergeant called for another unit, but still there was no
one available. Melillo said as he was checking Borges for a pulse,
he began to move and tried to speak.
“I remember waking up and he was yelling at me, ‘Do you
know who you are?’” Borges said. “All I remember saying was I
see your sunglasses because he had sunglasses on.”
Melillo said he kept Borges as calm as possible by telling him )ݡ