(Frank Speziale photo)

(Frank Speziale photo)

NORWICH – Kiwanis Club of Manhasset-Port Washington Foundation delivered four pediatric trauma kits to the Norwich Fire Department on Tuesday, hoping that with the additional equipment available, the kits could improve the odds that a child's life would be saved in an emergency.

On Tuesday afternoon, members of the Kiwanis Club traveled to Norwich, and delivered four pediatric trauma kits to help children in Chenango County who may potentially need them. Jill Mirabito, Pat and Ralph Gennis, and the Norwich VFW donated funding towards the kits.

According to a representative of the Kiwanis Club, after the Avianca Airline crash of flight number 52 on Long Island's North Shore in 1990 and the lack of pediatric emergency equipment on the responding ambulances, Eleanor Lalena calling a meeting of 35 of her friends and neighbors at the Port Washington Yacht Club.

They said Lalena proposed the formation of an organization to raise funding, purchase, and distribute pediatric emergency trauma kits, including child-size body boards. The kits were to be distributed to the fire departments' EMT units, in nearby communities. They added that the group of dedicated women recognized the need to improve the outcome for children that might be involved in serious accidents.