By Beth Foley
Palestine Herald-Press

PALESTINE, Texas — When Palestine Regional Medical Center paramedic Mark Neel arrived at the wreck scene on Loop 256 on June 11, 2006, 19-year-old Michelle Gaines was a badly injured woman in need of quick medical help.

Neel, fellow emergency medical technicians and other emergency personnel got her out of her smashed Buick, into a waiting ambulance and on to the PRMC emergency room for further assistance before being flown by medical helicopter to a Tyler hospital.

Saturday morning, Gaines, now 22, and her mother Janet surprised Neel with roses and a special framed photograph of Michelle to thank him for helping to save her life.

In the two years since her accident, Gaines has survived a coma and numerous surgeries and continues to undergo various types of therapy to be able to improve her vision, speech, mobility and memory, according to her mother.

While her memory does not extend as far back as the accident, she still wanted to show her appreciation to someone who had made a difference that night, Janet Gaines said.

For Neel, seeing a former patient up and walking and in the recovery process was a refreshing change. Though he often sees people while around town whom he and other paramedics have assisted, most were medical emergencies, people who were sick and needed help.

Few have been survivors of motor vehicle accidents, he said.

"Michelle is probably the first patient I've had come back in a very long time and that I've seen some of the outcome," said Neel, a paramedic since 1993. "A lot of people don't think about our part of getting them to the hospital, which is fine. I've never been in it for glory, strictly for helping out and getting them quality care before they get there."

With HIPAA regulations protecting patients' right to privacy, paramedics have a hard time following up on their patients after they're admitted to the hospital, he noted.

"It's good to see the outcome," Neel said. "It helps to get a little closure. We run so many calls, it's hard to keep up."