Lisa Robinson is the MCC’s 2025 Firefighter/Paramedic of the Year
By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
As a CFD paramedic, Lisa Robinson knows what it is to help others, up to and including saving lives—which is exactly what she did about two years ago when she played a pivotal role in resuscitating a person who otherwise would have died.
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| Lisa Robinson |
She also knows what it is to help others right here in the Midway area, volunteering her time, talent and training to help ensure safety at public events.
Little wonder she is the Midway Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Firefighter/Paramedic of the Year.
“Lisa’s one of those people who gives to the community,” says MCC board member Al Cacciottolo, who nominated her. “So many times, she has volunteered to be an onsite paramedic at our public events: the car show, the 5K, the tree lighting—anything we’ve ever done. And she’s never, never said no.
“In fact, we often don’t need to ask her. She steps forward to ask, ‘What do you need? What do you need? What do you need?’ And she never asks for anything in return. She has no ego.”
A daughter of the Southwest Side
Lisa grew up in the McKinley Park neighborhood, graduating from St. Maurice School in 1997. She then attended Queen of Peace High School, graduating in 2001, and later earned an associate’s degree from Morton College.
These days, she lives in Clearing. During the pandemic, Lisa was the co-creator of the Clear/Ridge Rocks group on Facebook. It attracted more than 2,000 people in the Midway area and served as the type of community-building activity that some mental health experts credit with reducing the negative impacts of the social isolation caused by the pandemic.
She is the oldest of four children, with three younger brothers.
At the suggestion of a friend, she began her career pursuit, enrolling in the EMT and paramedic programs at Advocate Christ Medical Center.
She also worked for Vandenberg Ambulance, as well as a patient care technician at three different hospitals: Christ, Rush and Lutheran General.
Lisa then got on the Chicago Fire Department hiring list. About four years later, she got the call and began her CFD duties on June 15, 2015.
She’s currently stationed at the CFD firehouse in the West Town neighborhood, near Chicago and Milwaukee. Her work on Ambulance 53 sees her handle a wide range of duties that encompass the bustling Fulton Market District, CTA train stations, the Kennedy Expressway and more.
The 2025 Firefighter/Paramedic of the Year Award will be presented at the Midway Chamber of Commerce’s annual dinner-dance, set for Friday, Jan. 9 at Mayfield Banquets. Lisa plans to be in attendance, along with her parents, Sandy and Mark Robinson.
“The Midway area is home to a lot of police, firefighters, paramedics and others who serve in so many ways,” Cacciottolo adds. “Our community’s challenge is to always honor them, but at the same time enlist them as volunteers in our neighborhoods’ schools, churches, parks, neighborhood watches, Scout troops, Little Leagues and so forth. In Lisa Robinson, we have all that. We need more people like her."
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