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Jamie Guilfoy with daughters Cara (left) and Leah. |
By Beth Murphy
Jamie Guilfoy ’90 learned his lessons about service in the halls of Scecina and has taken them to heart working the streets of Indianapolis. He was honored in November 2015 with the first Narcan Award from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for using Narcan to save the lives of six people who had overdosed on heroin. Since then, he has used the drug to save two more people and, given the prevalence of overdoses, likely will save many more.
Jamie is an officer with the IMPD’s Southeast District. All officers in every IMPD district now are trained in how to use Narcan.
“It’s gratifying knowing that you may have played a part in saving someone’s life,” Jamie says. “It’s unfortunate that we even have a need for a tool such as Narcan, but there are many people in our society who abuse heroin and prescription medications. You hear a lot of comments about how people that abuse these drugs probably don’t deserve to be helped or even saved, but what it comes down to is that they are human beings. The reality is that they are someone’s father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister and they have people that care about them and it’s our job to protect and serve them even if it sometimes means protecting them from themselves.”
Jamie credits his Catholic upbringing and education with giving him a desire to serve.
“I absolutely think Scecina and growing up Catholic instilled the values in me of wanting to serve others. It’s obviously one of the core values that you’re taught as a Catholic,” he says. “From the beginning you are taught to live like Jesus lived and serving other is what Jesus was placed on the earth to do.
“Scecina taught me to be the best person I can be. Scecina taught me integrity, respect, empathy and many other values that I carry with me to this day. Values that as a police officer you are expected to live by and maintain. Values as a human being that you are expected live by and maintain.”
Jamie says the most rewarding part of his profession is being able to make a difference in people’s lives. “Being a police officer gives you the opportunity to help others at their darkest moments,” he says. “If you are able to help someone who is suffered something catastrophic and help give them some sort of relief it can be something that you will be proud of the rest of your life.”
Jamie is married to Ami (Roembke) '95 and they have two daughters who attend Our Lady of Lourdes School, one of Scecina’s partner schools. Leah, 7, is in first grade, and Cara, 5, is in pre-kindergarten.
Jamie says he loves Scecina (“always have, always will”) and especially values the lifelong friends he made. “I would not be the same person I am today if it were not for the years I spent at Scecina,” he says. “I built friendships that have lasted a life time. My closest friends to this day are my classmates that I attended Scecina with starting in 1986. Scecina created a strong bond that as far as I am concerned can never be broken.“