A crowd in Park City on Saturday honored the first responders of the year, hearing of the efforts to keep the community safe and healthy through their work in law enforcement, firefighting or emergency medical services.
The Park City lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks held an annual ceremony outside Miners Hospital under partly sunny skies after the rain earlier in the day. The event is designed to highlight Park City-area law enforcement and emergency agencies by providing an award to an individual from each department.
Andrew Caplan, the exalted ruler of the Park City lodge, described the honorees as people who help hold the area together.
“These are local heroes. They are people who protect and serve the community,” Caplan said, calling emergency responders the “backbone of the community.”
He added: “These are the folks who make Park City a safe and wonderful place to live.”
The honorees received gift certificates to Ruth’s Chris Steak House.
The crowd gathered in front of the historic building in City Park to listen to presentations about the honorees. Many in the crowd were members of the various agencies or family and friends of the people who were honored.
The honorees and brief descriptions of their service, as outlined in summaries from the Elks lodge:
• Clint Parker, a Park City Police Department detective. Parker started with the agency as a traffic officer. He was moved to a detective position in 2022 and is assigned what are described as “child maltreatment cases.”
“These types of cases exact vicarious trauma on the investigator, and Clint tenaciously investigates each one of them to assure the safety of children,” the summary says.
It also says Parker in the last two years “has taken the lead on investigations where approximately 150 child victims were interviewed” at the local Children’s Justice Center.
• Daniela Anderson, a Summit County sheriff’s deputy. Anderson started with the Sheriff’s Office in 2022 in the corrections division before transferring to patrol in 2023. A nominating letter from the Sheriff’s Office notes Anderson speaks Spanish and “is quick to utilize her ability to communicate in Spanish to assist other officers and the public in any way she can.”
She also works with a Sheriff’s Office outreach program created to assist the underserved of Summit County, including the Latino community.
“Deputy Anderson has made a big splash with her involvement in this program and many individuals are now traveling from neighboring communities and counties in order to attend events and obtain information provided by Deputy Anderson and her team,” the nominating letter says.
• Sam Robison, a Park City Fire District firefighter. A nominating letter describes Robison as an “all-around exceptional firefighter and paramedic” as well as a “consummate leader and mentor to everyone he comes in contact with.”
“His calm, friendly and approachable demeanor allows him to really get through to those he’s teaching and he has had an enormous impact on improving our first responders’ confidence and abilities,” the letter says.
The letter explains Robison identified areas for improvement in a paramedic school program, as an example.
• Michael Dean, Park City Fire District EMS. A nominating letter describes Dean as a “distinguished” firefighter-paramedic and a critical care paramedic.
He is “renowned for his commitment to excellence in emergency medical services, playing a pivotal role in advancing care standards and training programs within the community,” the nomination says.
It says Dean has been a key in the “close coordination with state and local medical control authorities to ensure compliance with best practices and protocols” as it notes his work on an emergency medical procedure known as rapid sequence intubation that helps manage someone’s airway.
“These efforts benefit Park City Hospital and the residents by improving patient outcomes through more effective and timely interventions,” the nomination describes.
• Kaleb Rowell, a Utah Highway Patrol trooper. Information presented at the event on Saturday says Rowell holds a degree from Southern Utah University in criminal justice. He joined the agency in 2022 and is assigned to the highway patrol section covering Summit County and Wasatch County.
Rowell assists with training troopers new to the agency and is “an informal leader in” the section, the information says.
“He is always looking for opportunities to better our section and serve the people of Utah,” it says.