Chatham Councilman Consoled Woman Who Collapsed

CHATHAM, NJ - Borough Council President Len Resto found himself cast in the role of savior on Sunday evening as he came across a woman in "obvious distress." Resto acted quickly to obtain aid for the woman who appeared to be having a seizure and she was soon transported to Overlook Hospital in Summit.

According to Resto he walks daily and normally walks through the Chatham Borough train station's South parking lot, but on Sunday night opted to go through the North lot.

"As I walked up the sidewalk, I saw what I thought was a large bundle lying on the sidewalk. However, the bundle appeared to me to be moving. I quickened my stride and found a woman in obvious distress suffering some type of seizure," Resto said. "There was absolutely no one in the area as it was a late Sunday night. I did not have my cell phone with me because it was charging at home. I told the woman I was going to get help and, literally, ran across a grass field to Police Headquarters where I summoned the police and the Emergency Squad."

Resto said he returned to the woman and the police has already arrived to tend to her.

"She was sitting up, her seizure had passed but she seemed quite upset by it," Resto said.

Before the woman was taken to Summit's Overlook Hospital Resto learned that she was on anti-seizure medication and was being treated for bi-polar disorder. The 30-year-old woman said she was living in a homeless shelter and that her purse and medications were recently stolen.

Resto said that this woman's plight underscored his issues with our healthcare system as it pertains to mental health.

"I am the newest Board Trustee for the Northern New Jersey Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) and I am making it my mission to get health insurers and corporations to treat mental health on the same level as physical ailments," Resto said. "As a mental health advocate, it breaks my heart to see someone discharged from medical care when they truly need close supervision."

But his ties with mental health issues run deep. Resto, a retired insurance industry risk manager, said he had been bullied in high school.

"I am gay and was continually taunted and beaten up," Resto said. "This happened so much that at the age of 17, I tried to end my life through an overdose of barbiturates and sleeping pills. I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety and have been on medication for the past 47 years. I have made getting better insurance coverage and ending the stigma of mental illness as my life's purpose."

Resto and Chatham Borough Police Chief Brian Gibbons praised the responders for their efforts.
"They are really well trained and very compassionate," Gibbons said. "These are two fundamental ingredients for stellar performance, which is what I was told was exhibited by Officer (Michael) Permison and Officer (Kyle) Beasley. I am proud of them and grateful Len was on one of his routine walks to intercept this medical aid incident so quickly. Well done by all."

As to why he changed routes and was in that position to help that particular woman, Resto said he has a theory.

"After everything was finished, I thought to myself 'God needed me there,'" he said. " I'm very spiritual."

(Photo courtesy of Len Resto)

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