Employee of the Month: Sgt. Michael Pitt
Michael Pitt will never forget his days supervising a bustling Emergency Department as a Navy Hospital Corpsman.
“That was exciting. The doctor gave the orders to the nurse and the nurse passed the orders onto the Corpsman,” he recalled. “We did everything from IV administration to administering drugs like morphine. You name it, we did it. We saw all branches of the service, not just the Navy, but the Army, Marines, Coast Guard.”
For the past year and a half, Pitt has worked as an NCC Security Officer, where he is now a dispatcher on the midnight shift. A recent promotion saw him being elevated to the rank of sergeant.
“I supervise the other officers, make sure they show up on time, hold nightly roll calls, uniform inspections and supervise the nightly posts we have at the various NCC buildings,” Pitt said. “This place (NCC) is like a city within a city. I used to just drive by, but had no idea…during orientation I was blown away and very impressed.”
Prentiss Thompson, NCC Director of Security, said Pitt’s military background makes him a true asset to the security force.
“He lets me know what is going on and will get me out of bed if necessary,” he said. “Michael is disciplined and his performance is outstanding.”
Around NCC security base station, it is not unusual for Pitt, a married father of three children, to hear that he has the patience of the biblical Job.
“I’m a good manager and I like to micro-manage,” he said. “Other officers often tell me they love my leadership skills. I know how to talk to people and get the best out of people without yelling and screaming.”
The 44-year-old Pitt is a Newark native who has lived in every ward of the city. He graduated from Saint Patrick’s in Elizabeth in 1987 and headed straight into the military. After boot camp, he spent 16 weeks in hospital corpsman training, which he described as intense. That was followed by eight weeks of field medical training at Camp LeJune, N.C. with the Marines. It was then he learned how to practice medicine when you don’t have the proper equipment.
“I learned things like how to take a tree branch and use all leaves and herbs to stop bleeding and how to turn a pen into a trachea,” he said.
During his four years in the Navy, Pitt never even boarded a ship, instead using his medical skills to tend to soldiers at stateside medical facilities. Following his honorable discharge in 1991, he remained in the medical field, working as a Physician Assistant in various laboratories. He also worked a private security job in Newark for three years, attending Essex County College at night studying medicine. After a stint as a phlebotomy supervisor at Morristown Memorial Hospital, Pitt then got into the real estate business with a childhood friend, becoming a property manager.
When that company went out of business, it was in 2012 that he applied for the security position at New Community.
