SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Lisa Lynch and Beth Logue have mourned the loss of their mother since she died in a car crash four years ago.
Moira Perna died after crashing her car into a telephone pole in South Kingstown in September 2020. The 80-year-old’s vehicle was ignited by live wires and burst into flames.
Perna couldn’t be saved.
While Lynch and Logue have grieved each day without their mother, the first responders who were there that day face trauma of their own.
The women came face-to-face with those first responders at the Kingston Fire Department for the first time on Thursday.
“I’ve wanted to say ‘thank you’ for four years now,” Lynch told the first responders. “It’s been great to meet everybody.”
“It helped with our journey of grief and loss to meet these folks — who are so passionate about what they do to save lives every day,” Logue added.
Craig Stanley, chief of emergency medical services in South Kingstown, responded to the deadly crash.
“It’s a very positive thing for first responders to meet the family because the first responders, they don’t always have closure,” Stanley explained. “They respond to the call, they treat the patient and they may learn the outcome, but sometimes they don’t.”
“For them to learn the outcome and get thanks from the family, that means a lot,” he continued.
If anyone knows how healing moments like this can be, it’s Lisa Brunetti.
Brunetti met one the first responders who saved her life months after she was hit head on by a wrong-way driver. She has since started a nonprofit called “Universe Juice” with the goal of connecting others with the first responders who treated them on their worst days.
“First responders can see some horrible things, and if we can shine a light by bringing them together with people they have saved or family members who are appreciative of what they’ve done, despite what the outcome may have been, that’s what it’s all about,” Brunetti said.
Perna’s daughters are paying it forward, too. The driver who was behind their mother when she crashed her car told them he wished he’d had a fire extinguisher in his vehicle at the time so he could’ve saved her.
That inspired the sisters to launch “Moira’s Mission,” which has donated more than 160 fire extinguishers to the South Kingstown Fire Department to eventually be handed out free of charge.
“I think she would just be so thrilled and delighted that we’ve taken something so tragic, and now, with the hopes of raising awareness, maybe someone’s life can be saved,” Lynch said.
The fire extinguishers can be picked up starting March 17 at the Union Fire District office on Asa Pond Road. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.