Celebrating Pine Islanders: Joe Hernandez
Joe Hernandez said he would describe himself as a husband, father and grandfather before anything else. He also said he calls his occupation his silver sword, because it is his way of giving back to the community.
As a retired EMS chief, who served for 30 years in the fire rescue service, he finished his career with the Task Force FEMA Urban Search and Rescue under the National Response System.
“Our Task Force responded to the Oklahoma City bombing, and then I retired shortly after the Haiti earthquake in 2010. The 911 World Trade Center was in between that as a major event and I’ve responded to every hurricane that’s hit the United States,” Hernandez said.
After arriving from Cuba in the early 1960s, he said, he married his high school sweetheart, Laura, and they raised their children on the East Coast. Before ever moving here, Pine Island had become a frequent vacation spot for their family, he said.
“After retirement, and the passing of our son, who was a soldier — we had two boys deployed — we were invited to call Pine Island our permanent home, and there is absolutely nothing like Pine Island,” Hernandez said.
His love for the island, he said, was most clearly displayed in trying to bring the Kiwanis Children’s Park in St. James City to a reality along with the Pine Island Kiwanis Club.
“Seeing that and becoming a part of the Kiwanis and part of the First Baptist Church of St. James City and then after the hurricane, being asked to become a commissioner and fill an empty seat that was there,” Hernandez said.
Hurricane Ian went a long way to model the harrowing and transformative impacts on the island community, he explained.
“It reminded me that we still have an incredible strength and resilience in our human spirit. Every single hurricane season brings its own challenge, but I’ve also seen neighbors come together, and strangers become friends,” Hernandez said.
“I have loved helping to bring in Advanced Life Support (ALS) for the Fire Department,” he said, “but also having paramedics at every single fire station and increasing the number of fire fighter paramedics at every station, further preparing the island for any future event.”
Describing Pine Island to an outsider would be easy, he said, as he would report living in paradise on a blue collar island, with a sprinkle of white collar.
“A forgotten spot in South Florida, that is, everywhere else, filled with high rises zero lot lines, ” Hernandez said.
Self-governance for the island is something Hernandez said he can imagine working well here. Ideally, he would like to see Pine Island take on its own identity rather than simply being a part of another municipality.
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