DEARBORN HEIGHTS — With first responders giving their time and dedication to the Dearborn COVID-19 vaccine clinic, one Dearborn Heights firefighter went above and beyond.

From the time the clinic opened in March until it closed in May, Dearborn Heights Firefighter Roger Chapman volunteered 170 hours to help vaccinate approximately 1,200 people himself.

“All of the hours he worked at the clinic were on top of his normal work hours, and we work 48 hour work weeks,” Fire Chief Dave Brogan said. “We had 17 firefighters helping at the clinic, but Chapman put in more hours than anyone else from our group.”

In a letter of recognition, Brogan thanked Chapman for his dedication to the community.

“The impact of COVID was felt by our community and by the entire country,” the letter said. “With the introduction of the vaccines, it became clear that this would be the way we could all return to safely resuming life as normal.

“We were faced with the challenge of getting the vaccine out into our community. Working with seven other communities, the Dearborn Vaccine Center was established. One of the concerns was having the manpower to cover all the work ahead. Many of our DHFD members worked on their days off to help get as many people vaccinated as possible. DHFD had 17 members get the training and participate in the task. Of these, FFII Chapman had the most hours worked, totaling over 170 hours at the vaccine site. It is estimated that he gave over 1,200 vaccines in that time. Working that many hours represents time away from his home and family on top of his normal workdays at the fire station.”

Firefighter Chapman went way above the call of duty, I am very grateful to have someone like him work with us — Mayor Bill Bazzi

Chapman said that he just wanted to make sure that residents were getting what they needed.

“My family knows what the job I have entails,” he said. “We just wanted to get back to some sort of normalcy. I didn’t do it for recognition, I was trying to represent the department in the best way possible.”

Chapman, who has been with Dearborn Heights Fire Department for seven years, said it was all for the community.

“Sometimes you have to put in a bit more time,” he said. “I just wanted to serve the community. We have a great chief and a great mayor that backs us and I wanted to do whatever I could to help benefit the citizens in our community and our neighboring communities.”

Mayor Bill Bazzi said he is proud to have Chapman in the department.

“I am so proud of our fire department and their community involvement,” he said. “Firefighter Chapman went way above the call of duty, I am very grateful to have someone like him work with us.”