The Shinnston News & Harrison County Journal has named Amy Romano as October’s Citizen of the Month, a program sponsored by Dorsey Funeral Home in Shinnston – locally owned & operated.
By TRINA RUNNER
News & Journal Staff Writer
As parents, we have countless opportunities to hover over our children, telling them to be careful, instructing them what to do in an emergency, and keeping our fingers crossed that they stay safe. In school, they practice codes for everything from tornados to intruders, again with careful instructions of what to do in various scenarios.
After school, however, school staff members release children into a world full of scenarios that have never been covered and feel helpless as they try to develop routines of their own that will keep them far from harm. Most of the staff hopes for the best, but being truly prepared is another story … one many don’t realize we even have the resources to initiate.
Amy Romano has made it her mission to educate and train individuals for emergencies, becoming nationally certified as an Emergency Medical Responder in 2012. Since then, she has become trained as part of the local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that volunteers to back up First Responders when needed.
Romano now serves as the Director of CERT and has been instrumental in training over 250 volunteers in our area. She also serves as the leader of Schools and Communities Organize to Prepare for Emergencies (SCOPE) for Bridgeport, which was a pilot program aimed at school-aged children’s response to disaster preparedness
Serving as a Board Member for the Emergency Service Council for the City of Bridgeport and for the Local Emergency Planning Committee has enabled Romano to keep the public informed of new procedures, trends and resources in emergency preparedness and her efforts have paid off as programs continue to expand.
For the last six years, Romano has been an active member of the GFWC Bridgeport Junior Woman’s Club. Now, in addition to her service to the club, she is also the Co-Chair for the GFWC Juniorettes, a branch dedicated to involving girls in middle and high school in community service projects and volunteerism. She was recently elected to serve as the State Chair for the Juniorettes for the next two years as well.
Romano has continually supported her husband in his endeavors and has been a parent volunteer at both Simpson Elementary and Bridgeport Middle School. Her kindness, generosity, and her contagious enthusiasm for helping others has made her stand out among her peers as both a leader and an inspiration.
