Posts in MEDIA

The low-tech, durable whistle has been saving lives for centuries. Whistles were used by early police forces to disrupt crimes in progress. Women have been advised to use a whistle to loudly protest unwanted advances. This ancient instrument for raising an alarm is also an apt symbol for Jacqueline Cassagnol’s common sense approach to saving lives.
Cassagnol’s organization, Worldwide Community First Responders, distributes whistles, along with other medical supplies and basic necessities so that disaster victims can shelter in place and direct first responders to their locations under rubble or debris.

On January 12th, 2010 the country of Haiti was hit by an earthquake later known to be the “fifth-deadliest natural disaster in all of history.” A total of 316, 000 people died and another 300,000 people were injured. The whole world ached for the communities of Haiti, and thousands of people flew in to assist with healing the damage that still afflicts the country to this day.
One of those people was Jacqueline Cassagnol, MSN, RN, Ph.D.(c) an accomplished nurse and professor from New York.

Worldwide Community First Responder, Inc.: Jacqueline Cassagnol, MSN, RN, PhD(c), who was born in Brooklyn, NY to Haitian immigrants is the Founder & President of Worldwide Community First Responder, Inc. She was selected as a 2019 Caribbean American Healthcare Award recipient, and honored on Tuesday, June 25th, 2019 by Caribbean Life at Paradise Catering in Brooklyn, NY.
Cassagnol was selected because of her consistency in exemplifying what it means to be an avid lover of her career, and making big achievements in New York City’s healthcare industry. She was nominated for this recognition by Claudette Powell.

WCFR, Inc. will present six scholarship awards in 2024, four of which will be presented at its “Great Gatsby” themed 10+3 Anniversary & Fundraising Gala. This year’s achievement marks a substantial increase from the years before where three or four Marguerite Thony Scholarship Awards were presented per year. WCFR is introducing three new Sabrina HoSang Jordan Scholarship Awards, expanding its reach and impact within the community.

NANUET, NY — Nanuet Patch Mayor Jacqueline Cassagnol loves to give back to her community. She is the Founder and President of Worldwide Community First Responder, and a Founding Member and Past Vice-President of the Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce.
“Patch Editor Lanning Taliaferro encouraged me to become a Patch Mayor. It’s a wonderful program for people who post frequently on their local Patch,” she said. “I am a nursing professor with my Master’s Degree in Nursing Administration and Post Master’s Degree in Nursing Education. I am currently pursuing a PhD in Nursing at Pace University.”

NANUET, NY — Rockland resident and nursing professor Jacqueline Cassagnol was deeply affected by the Haiti Earthquake of 2010. She realized that without the correct training, even the best doctors and nurses may not be ready to assist in emergency situations like that. Her solution: founding Worldwide Community First Responder, an international nonprofit with a mission to prevent deaths worldwide through education and training.
Now in its seventh year, WCFR is expanding its outreach. Its own local television show starts Feb. 10 on Cablevision Channel 76.
Here’s a Q&A with WCFR founder Jackie Cassagnol:

Over the years, Rockland County has seen its share of volunteers and leaders who step up to make an impact on our communities. The common trend that we see in our leaders is the personal story that inspires them to step up and take action. Jacqueline Cassagnol, founder of Worldwide Community First Responder Inc, has taken inspiration from her personal story, built an organization and made an impact on many families in Rockland. This is Jackie’s story.
Jackie remembers it just like it was yesterday. She was in Israel when the 2010 earthquake in Haiti happened. She turned on the TV and there it was – “the worst thing she’d ever seen.”

Jackie Cassagnol’s life changed when Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake in 2010.
Cassagnol, a longtime registered nurse currently working as a professor at Dominican College, was training Haitian civilians in first aid and emergency response following the killer quake and one young man told her, “If we knew this then, we could have saved so many lives.”
The words hit Cassagnol both in her heart and head and she realized that lack of knowledge of first aid was costing thousands of lives all over the world. Cassagnol came up with a philosophy; that every man and woman is potentially their own best first responder in an emergency.

With most of her family practicing in the medical field, Spring Valley resident Jackie Cassagnol always envisioned herself in the industry. It was one person, however, who ultimately influenced her decision to become a nurse. Starting as a medical-surgical nurse, her aunt Joyce came home from the hospital each night with a thrilling story, or two, to share. She worked her way through the ranks over the course of 30 years, eventually becoming the head of the hospital’s clinics. Seeing the difference her aunt made in patients’ lives, Jackie set her sights on a career in nursing, not knowing how just many lives she would one day touch.

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. — For the second time in six years, Spring Valley’s Jackie Cassagnol traveled to witness firsthand devastation in Haiti. She came away more heartbroken from the pain of a recent hurricane than she did in 2010, when an earthquake ravaged the island.

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen,’’ said Cassagnol, who started Worldwide Community First Responder (WCFR) in the wake of the earthquake six years ago. “I went to areas that were never visited since the hurricane. There are places that before the hurricane, there were houses. Now it’s just land. It’s rubble. There was still flooding, even a month after the hurricane. It was unbelievable.”