TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — Paramedic Ailyea Lanbaum is being hailed as a hero for coming to the aid of a woman on a respirator who was stuck on the Tappan Zee Bridge after Tuesday’s construction crane collapse.
CBS New York reports a medical van was carrying a 26-year-old, wheelchair-bound woman when a crane crashed across the bridge, shutting down traffic in both directions.
Ambulance company officials said the patient couldn’t breathe on her own, and the respirator was running out of power.
Paramedic Ailyea Langbaum was the closest person available to respond. She had to drive her ambulance against traffic towards the crane and reached the van on foot, jumping over the median in order to reach the patient.
Langbaum managed to hook up a portable respirator to the patient just minutes away from the ventilator’s battery dying.