STREETSBORO, Ohio — A Streetsboro salon owner was recognized by the Streetsboro Fire Department Monday for her life-saving actions that helped rescue a client in January.
Gina Fischione, one of the owners of Impressions Styling Studio in Streetsboro, was working at the salon on Jan. 22 when a regular client failed to show up for her scheduled appointment.
“I texted her and she didn’t answer and then I called her and I didn’t answer and that just made me think something is not right,” Fischione said.
A short time later, Fischione received a callback. The client, who is in her 80s, told her that she had fallen outside and was injured badly enough that she could not get up.
“I was concerned because it was so cold that day. And she had already been out there a half-hour in that bitter cold,” Fischione said. “I’m like, ‘Hang up, call 911.’ And I just acted. I grabbed my blanket, I got her address and I buzzed over there.”
Fischione arrived before EMS and wrapped the woman in the blanket she brought from her salon.
She said, “She was shivering and cold and kept saying, ‘Thank you for coming.’”
The Streetsboro Fire Department is calling the salon owner's actions 'heroic.'
“If it wasn’t for her care and humanity, I think we would have had a completely different outcome in this situation,” said John Broska, a Streetsboro EMT and firefighter who responded to the scene.
Broska explained Fischione's call and texts to the woman likely made her alert enough to realize something was wrong.
"Why she didn’t [immediately] call 9-1-1 was maybe because she was in a state of shock," he said. "She was already getting into that shock zone and she wasn’t thinking clearly.”
The woman suffered a broken hip and was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. She's currently recovering in a rehabilitation center.
"She’s my friend and my client. And I’m glad that I acted.”
Broska, who graduated with Fischione in the same class at Crestwood High School in Mantua, said, “Gina was always a good person. She was a great friend in school. I didn’t know how good she was until I saw this act of humanity.”
Fischione said she's been humbled by the praise but is reluctant to accept the label of hero.
“I felt like it was the right thing to do,” she said.
Broska added, “Those are the true heroes in our society: those people who do things that they don’t necessarily know how to do, but they do it because they feel it is the right thing to do.”
The Streetsboro Mayor Glenn Broska and Fire Chief Robert Reinholz will honor Fischione with an official proclamation at the Streetsboro City Council Safety Committee Meeting Monday at Streetsboro City Hall.
The same day, Fischione plans to visit her client and give her a haircut in the rehabilitation center where she is recovering.
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