Honorees

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Year Honored
2016
Honoree
Michael F. Cavanagh
Title
Paramedic
Agency
Fire Department of New York - Bureau of EMS
Agency City
New York
Agency State
New York
Last Call
12/2/2013
Cause of Death
9/11 Illness
Biography
He was a real gentleman with a winning smile. The New York City Emergency Medical Services welcomed Michael as a Paramedic on April 20, 1987. He attended the Academy with his sister, Patricia. By June he was working as a citywide paramedic, meaning he worked in just about every borough and every shift until he found a permanent spot on a regular unit. Michael absolutely loved being a medic and he also loved the camaraderie of EMS. He knew how to make his patients feel comfortable and secure. If all they needed was for him to hold their hand, he would do that. Being a paramedic was not just a job for Michael, it was a calling. It was a feeling in his body and mind that led him to be the kind of medic he was. Michael served in the Air Force in the mid 1970’s. He liked the sense of belonging to something bigger than he was. It probably started with his family of one brother (Alfred) and 2 sisters (Patricia and Maureen) and of course his parents, about 27 first cousins, nieces and nephews, many neighborhood friends, boy scouts and school baseball teams. He eventually had his own family – Mary (his wife) and his children Mary and Joseph. On the morning of September 11, 2001, like hundreds of his fellow first responders, Michael responded to the attacks at the World Trade Center. He spent endless days on site during the rescue and recovery operations. His efforts to save lives at the disaster site proved fatal 12 years later as he succumbed to disease on December 2, 2013.