R
ealtor and Morgan Hill resident,
Terry Moriyama, credits her
zoologist mother, Hallie Solberg,
for her love of animals.
“She instilled in me the compassion I
have for all creatures, great and small,”
Moriyama said. “I grew up as an only
child, and all my siblings had scales,
feathers, or fur.”
Moriyama’s non-profit organiza-
tion, Air For Paws, is living proof of her
continued love and dedication to her
four-legged friends. The idea began twelve
years ago, when Moriyama read about
a fire in Seminole County where both a
hamster, and a kitten were saved by the
use of an animal resuscitation mask.
After reading the article, Moriyama
knew she’d found her way to give back.
“There was a need, and I could fill the
need,” Moriyama said.
For the next four years Moriyama
worked at trying to get her idea off the
ground, with little success. And then, in
2008, Moriyama read an article about a
San Martin house fire, where several pets
died due to the fire.
Derek Witmer, who was Battalion Chief
at the time, was quoted in the article.
“I am looking into finding community
support to purchase oxygen masks used
by veterinarians to keep on fire trucks.”
Moriyama knew the moment she read
his words that she’d found the one person
who could make her idea a reality.
“She just walked in one day and told
me she saw the article in the paper, and
she had an idea, something she’d always
wanted to do,” Witmer recalled.
With the assistance of Witmer and
Morgan Hill veterinarian, Dr. Michelle
Griffin, Moriyama’s vet, two types of
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
JULY / AUGUST 2016
animal resuscitation kits were developed.
The first, for fire fighters, contained
a veterinarian surgical mask used to
administer oxygen; a leash; a laminated
instruction card; and a DVD detailing the
procedure to be used when an animal was
found unconscious.
The second kit included the same
items, with the addition of a ventilation
bag for first responders without oxygen
tanks on their vehicles.
It was Moriyama’s idea to paint a white
paw print on the front of the kits, as a way
to differentiate them from the firefighters’
other equipment.
“So really, it was all of us putting our
heads together when we were designing
them, with Derek heading it up,”
Moriyama said.
Once the kits were put together,
Moriyama donated 10 of them at a cost of
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