In 2021, Ken Lemanski, a member of the Quick Response Unit (QRU) and a volunteer firefighter for Cascade passed away due to COVID.
His daughter Abby Lemanski earned her honorary EMT badge on Friday, and her goal is to follow in her father's footsteps and honor the legacy he left behind.
“It inspired me that he liked to help people a lot. I think that's why I like to help people a lot,” Lemanski said.
Cascade County Disaster & Emergency Services (DES) planned a special day for Abby including a formal honorary EMT certificate, some goodies to help her to continue to learn about EMS, and they even let her check out all of the emergency vehicles.
“She's pursuing Scouting America, and within that program there's some emergency management that she has to learn and so she asked us if she can come in here and educate herself on some of that stuff,” said Joey Zahara, director of Cascade County DES. “We wanted to honor her with some special treats and stuff and fire trucks and make it a really special day for her.”
Abby hopes to continue to help others and go into the military someday, just like her father did.
“I think it just means I like to help people, and it just represents how good my father was for teaching me to do things. You never know what [people] may be going through, so it’s always good to help,” said Lemanski.
“Her dad served with the Cascade County QRU, so we just want to give back and really honor his legacy,” said Zahara.
A big congratulations to Abby for this special achievement.
