Badges, beads pair up for show of courage in Hazleton
David Palermo, president of the Palermo Heart to Heart Foundation, announces the foundation’s new “Badges & Boots” program that encourages emergency responders to carry beads with them while on patrol in Hazleton. The beads, which are part of the Beads of Courage Carry-A-Bead program, will be given to children who are fighting serious illnesses.
Beads that are part of the Carry-A-Bead program in Hazleton
HAZLETON – When area police, fire and emergency responders are on duty next month, they’ll be wearing special beads with their badges.
The beads – from the just-launched Beads of Courage “Badges & Boots” program – will find their way to seriously ill children and teenagers, said Dave Palermo, president of the Palermo Heart to Heart Foundation.
“We call this bead an ‘act of courage’ bead,” said Palermo, who was flanked by area first responders as he introduced the program Wednesday from the Butler Township Community Center. “The bead is given to a child when they’re having a bad day. It makes them realize they’re not alone. It makes their families realize that although they are handcuffed to a hospital bed or a room, that there are people out there who truly care about them.”
Already, nine police and fire departments from across the region have pledged support to Badges and Boots. The initiative is an offshoot the Foundation-supported Beads of Courage program, which provides color-coded beads to young patients to signify their hospital stays, chemotherapy treatments or other medical procedures.
Palermo told the (Hazleton) Standard-Speaker that a pair of Badges and Boots beads will be worn by the emergency responders during mid-November shifts. After carrying the beads, one bead, along with a note written by the responder, will be returned to Beads of Courage. As “act of courage” beads, they’ll then be given to patients on “tough” treatment days.
Police and fire personnel also are planning visits to patients at the Geisinger Health System’s Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville.
The Palermo foundation began supporting Beads of Courage at Geisinger in 2011, and since then, has added Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Children’s Home and Mary Lemieux Family Center in Pittsburgh.
Hazleton Fire Department firefighter Dave Fatula said he and fellow firefighters jumped at the chance to participate.
“It was a given,” he said. “We went to our guys, and there were no questions. (They asked) where do we sign up?”
Butler Township Police officer Jerry Palermo Jr., a foundation board member, said the Fraternal Order of Police’s Christina Lodge also stands behind Badges and Boots.
“A lot of time these children who are sick look up to police, fire fighters and EMTs for courage – and we really should be looking up to them for courage,” he said.
In addition to the Hazleton Fire Department, police departments from the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton; the boroughs of Freeland, West Hazleton, Weatherly and White Haven, and the townships of Butler and Sugarloaf have committed their support.
Department representatives will reach out to other commonwealth first responders to ask for their participation in Badges and Boots. The community is also invited to participate in the Carry A Bead Program.