By EMS1 Staff
COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. — The family of an Iowa EMT who was killed in an ambulance crash is mourning his death.
FOX9 reported that Steve Werner’s family remembers him as an adrenaline junkie who had a passion for helping others.
“We consider ourselves very, very lucky to be Steve’s mom and dad; we had a really good one, he was a good one,” Werner’s mother, Lugene, said.
Werner was killed when the ambulance he was riding in crashed into the back of a semi-truck on a bridge just two minutes away from their Paramount Ambulance base.
Werner’s father, Dan, said he and Lugene spent eight years worrying about his safety as his served in the multiple tours overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, but they never expected he would be hurt as an EMT.
“I never thought it would happen here at home. I didn’t think I would get a call at six in the morning from a priest to tell us that,” Dan said.
Werner’s brother-in-law Tim Thrush said not everyone realizes the dangers EMS providers face.
“I think it’s something you take for granted that you can just make a call and someone can be there pretty quick to take care of you, and you don’t think about it until it’s something that you need,” Thrush said.
Werner’s parents said that although his death was tragic, they find solace in that he died a hero.
“If anyone was going to get hurt, he would have taken it. That’s what he would have done,” they said.
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