At the Jan. 6 press conference celebrating Lt. Stephen Halliday's discharge from the Burn Center are (from left) Dr. Palmer Bessey, professor of surgery and associate director of the Burn Center; wife, Linda; Lt. Halliday; Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital; and Dr. Antonio Gotto, dean of the Medical College.
After spending nearly two months hospitalized, Stephen Halliday, a fire lieutenant who was critically injured after a bookcase fell on him as he fought a fire in a St. Albans, Queens, house, was discharged from the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center of NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center on Jan. 6. He will receive continued treatment at Burke Rehabilitation Center, an affiliate of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, located in White Plains.
On Nov. 7, Lt. Halliday, 42, of Babylon, Long Island, and leader of his ladder company (Ladder 165 in Cambria Heights), was among the first to respond to a fire that began in the basement of a two-story brick home in St. Albans. He was later transferred by the NewYork-Presbyterian Emergency Medical Services team to the Burn Center, where he was admitted in very critical condition with second and third-degree burns covering 55 percent of his body. Over the course of his treatment, he underwent six operations.
At a press conference celebrating Halliday's Jan. 6 discharge from the Burn Center, Halliday joined the medical team that saved his life; his family, including wife Linda, and daughters Emily and Sarah; and fellow firefighters, including members of Ladder 165, where he was assigned the day of his injury, and Engine 1, Ladder Company 24 of Manhattan, where he was previously stationed for 14 years. A fire department escort honored Halliday as he left the Hospital with his family.