Sun staff
Rosa Miller did not expect to be recognized by the Miami Township Trustees when she walked into the meeting on February 17.
However, the meeting began with Fire Chief Steve Kelly speaking about Miller’s actions on a flight she took in February, after which he presented Miller with a Meritorious Service Award.
Miller, a volunteer for Fire/EMS, was on a flight back from Arizona when she helped with three medical emergencies, Kelly said.
“Rosa did not feel like she had done her job but when she helped those passengers but rather jumped into action on both occasions without hesitation,” Kelly said.
Miller worked as a firefighter paramedic for Miami Township from July 1984 to August 1998. Since, she has been serving as a Fire/EMS support volunteer for the township, Kelly said.
“It means the world to me because I love the township and I’ve lived here all my life and my family’s had a business here since 1955,” Miller said. Miller’s family runs Trester Used Auto Parts Inc. in the township.
After Miller’s brother donated a 15-passenger van, Miller fixed it up and donated it to Lifeline Christian Missions. Lifeline donated the van to Red Sands, both a church and a school on a Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona.
Miller drove the van to Arizona with a couple of other companions to drop it off, she said. She and her companions flew back to Cincinnati but before the plane even took off, a passenger had a heart attack.
Miller and a doctor on the plane gave the passenger medical assistance, she said. Another passenger had a reaction of a peanut allergy and a third passenger had a diabetic emergency, Miller said.
“It is said that you never truly retire from Fire and EMS service, that same drive, that same calling that attracted us to those careers is always there within us and on February 11 Rosa showed that she’s still committed to helping her neighbors in their time of need,” Kelly said.