Hudson Valley Hospital Center Dedicates Room for EMS Workers in Honor of First Mohegan Fire Chief

Grandson donates EMS room in HVHC Emergency Department in honor of his grandfather Louis Zugner

Cortlandt Manor, NY - (September 1, 2010) - In February of 1922, a group of local citizens met in a tiny school house on Barmore Hill to organize Mohegan's first fire department. The group of 27 men elected Louis Zugner, a local merchant who sold his wares from a horse-drawn wagon, as the Mohegan Volunteer Fire Department's first chief.

Today, Zugner's grandson, David, and his wife, Dorothy, joined Hudson Valley Hospital Center staff and EMS workers from Mohegan, Peekskill, Cortlandt, and Yorktown to honor the memory of Louis Zugner with the dedication of a new lounge and workroom for EMS workers.

The room in the Hospital's Emergency Department is equipped with a refrigerator, coffee machine, microwave and computer workspace. EMS personnel can use it to take breaks, fill out paperwork and regroup between runs. Outside the room is a plaque honoring Louis Zugner and a display case with Mohegan Fire Department artifacts of that era.

David Zugner, a long-time member of the Mohegan Volunteer Fire Association Volunteer Ambulance, said the room not only honored his grandfather, but was dedicated to all the men and women of Mohegan Ambulance and other area EMS volunteers who were committed to serving their community.

Hudson Valley Hospital Center President John C. Federspiel said that the Hospital's $100 million renovation and expansion of the Emergency Department provided the perfect opportunity to create the room.

"When David Zugner came to us with this idea, we knew immediately that it was the right thing to do" said Federspiel. "I'm really pleased today to see his dream become a reality and to be able to provide our dedicated EMS workers with a place in our Emergency Department that they can call their own."

IDs are as follows:
From left to right: Dr. Ron Nutovitis, chair of Emergency Services at HVHC; Maryann Maffei, RN, MS, Director of Emergency Department Critical Care at HVHC; Dorothy Zugner, David Zugner, Kathy Webster, VP Patient Services and John. C. Federspiel, HVHC President.