It is with the deepest regrets that we announce the passing of Mary Patricia "Pat" Lind on Sunday July 24, 2011, after a valiant battle with cancer.
Pat graduated from the Immaculate Conception HS in Lodi in 1959 before attending Seton Hall University where in 1963 she was one of the first women to obtain a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing. In 1968 she obtained her Master's Degree in Nursing, specializing in Obstetrics at Columbia University where she also obtained her license in midwifery and became an Associate Professor. Over the years, she worked at Hackensack University Medical Center in Labor and Delivery and in the ICU; she worked at Holy Name Medical Center in Labor and Delivery and taught Obstetrics at their Nursing School; and she worked at the Englewood Women's Clinic as a Nurse and Midwife. Pat then went on to attend Union County College in 1982 to become one of The Valley Hospital's first paramedics, a career that spanned nearly 24 years until her retirement. During her medical career she attended the birth of nearly 1,000 babies!
Pat had also served as an Emergency Medical Technician for the Ho-Ho-Kus Volunteer Ambulance Corps, where she also acted as the Corps President and Captain, and was a Life Member of Ho-Ho-Kus VAC; Pat also was an EMT member of the Oakland First Aid Squad. She helped teach emergency Obstetrics and Gynecology to EMT students at the Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute, EMS Academy in Mahwah and to Paramedic students at Union County College for nearly two decades. Pat was a dedicated and popular lecturer, making it very easy for the students to understand the objectives of her topics.
On September 11, 2001, as thousands fled Manhattan, Pat and her partner on The Valley Hospital MICU responded to the World Trade Center before being stationed at the Triage and Treatment area at the South Street Seaport.
The most important thing in Pat's life was her family. She will also be remembered for her devotion to the Catholic faith and her love of God, her dedication to the teaching of Emergency Medical personnel and nurses, her ability to put the people around her at ease and calm their fears, her love of Siamese cats, her "grand-dogs" and Lake Sunapee, and her strength and conviction in the face of adversity that inspired all of those around her. She will forever be loved and missed by everyone whose life she touched.
Pat will be sorely missed. Our condolences go out to her family, squad members and many friends and students.
RIP Pat!