BRAINTREE – Town building defibrillator and new South Middle School nurse’s office facilities donated to the town by a foundation initiated to commemorate the murdered member of the Board of Health who was a school nurse for many years. will be donated.
The $15,000 donated to pay for furnishing the nurse’s office and five defibrillators for the town and school buildings came from the Laurie Melchionda Foundation. The town council voted unanimously to accept them at its Tuesday night meeting.
Melchionda was a nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital for 35 years and a nurse at Braintree School for 25 years before becoming Director of Nursing at Weston School. She was shot dead at her Howie Road home in June 2020. The man indicted is his former neighbor posing as a delivery driver.
In a memo to the city council, Mayor Charles Kokoros said, “Rory served our community with great pride and always thought of the best interests of our students, colleagues, family and friends.” I cannot thank the Foundation enough for this.”
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Laurie’s daughter, Juliana Melchionda, told the council she was overwhelmed by the support her family received.
“This is just the beginning,” she said of the donation. “It’s an honor to be able to give back to society.”
Juliana Melchionda, who is also a nurse, took her mother’s seat at the health committee.
City Council Speaker Meredith Boerike thanked the council members for their donations.
“Thank you for your continued service to the community,” said Boericke.
Also at the meeting, Braintree Firefighter Lieutenant Fred Viola and a group of Braintree firefighters demonstrated the use of the LUCAS device, which stands for Lund University Heart Assist System. This device automatically performs chest compressions for cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Viola said he had already saved his life.
“It makes our job a little easier, but more importantly, it’s more effective,” said Viola, the department’s emergency medical coordinator.
For example, the machine can continue to provide consistent compressions while the patient is being transported to the ambulance, Viola said. The department bought one of the devices with a grant, and Brewster ambulances bought two more, so all three of the department’s frontline engines have them, he said.
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Contact Fred Hanson: [email protected].
