Lighting Designer and COVID-19 Responder


 

While some of us were complaining about Zoom meetings and cabin fever, NYC Lighting Designer, Matthew Tirschwell, was responding to COVID-19 emergencies in Queens, NY.

 

NEW YORK CITY -- Each day during the first three weeks of April, there were between 264 and 570 COVID-19 related deaths in New York City.  Each day.  The curve has been flattened and quarantine measures have been fairly effective at slowing the spread, but the month of April was still an incredibly precarious one for New Yorkers.  Healthcare workers were continuously sounding alarms for lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).  Volunteer doctors and nurses flew to New York to help fight the crisis.  And one NYC lighting designer decided to pause his professional and personal life to help emergency medical technician (EMT) crews in Queens.

Lighting designer Matthew Tirschwell founded his architectural lighting design firm, Tirschwell & Co, in 1999 and has amassed an impressive portfolio of award-winning architectural lighting projects along the way.  If you know Matthew, you know him to be intellectual, witty and articulate.  He’s kind and approachable.  Despite his success, he maintains a seemingly unwavering humility along with his passion for his work and for his family.  As evidenced by his recent actions this April, he is also incredibly compassionate and unselfish.

Matthew traded in his trademark frameless, nose-resting designer eyeglasses for a plastic face shield as he significantly increased his volunteering time with the Ridgewood Volunteer Ambulance Corps in Queens.  He and his wife made the difficult decision to separate for weeks so that his time responding COVID-19 emergencies would not risk the health of the family.  So, as Matthew’s wife and daughters temporarily relocated to the northern NYC suburbs, Matthew stayed in the city to help fight the COVID-19 battle.

Long time SDA Lighting specification sales representative, Asher Schoenberg, recently had an opportunity to connect with Matthew in the video interview below.  It was remarkable to listen to Matthew describe his actions and the decisions behind them.  

Matthew is so dedicated to supporting emergency medical services that, years ago, he created a foundation, EMS Access.  The organization is focused on providing leadership support to volunteer Emergency Medical Service operations.  We hope that you’ll say thank you to Matthew by making a donation to EMS Access. 

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Please soak in the video discussion below and next time you see Matthew, please thank him for his volunteer contributions.

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A big thank you to Asher Schoenberg and to SDA Lighting.  

And a huge thank you and abundant appreciation to Matthew and his family for all of the selfless dedication and sacrifices.  

 

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COVID-19 statistics from https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page 
 

May 4, 2020

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