By EMS1.com Staff
SAN DIEGO — Firefighter/paramedic Ben Veron was lying on an emergency room table shortly after being stabbed on duty during a medical call. When his chief walked in and asked what he could do to help, Vernon didn’t hesitate.
“I said ‘Chief, now that I got you here, I want to buy a rescue air cushion to save potential jumpers off bridges,’” Vernon told NBC San Diego.
A few weeks ago, that air mattress was used by San Diego Fire-Rescue Department to save a man who jumped off a bridge over Interstate 5.
Vernon said he used his time in the hospital, recovering from the stabbing, but also convincing the chief to buy the $15,000 mattress known as the Rescue Air Cushion.
According to NBC San Diego, the mattress is 20 feet wide, 20 feet long and nine feet high. When raised, it can protect a jumper leaping from 100 feet up.
Vernon, who was stabbed in June 2015, said he had been thinking about a rescue air cushion since he responded to a call about a 19-year-old threatening to kill herself. Despite hours of negotiations, the woman jumped off the bridge and died at Vernon’s feet.
While the bridge jumper didn’t land on the mattress, he jumped to avoid the mattress and landed in adjacent bushes.
“He saw the rescue air cushion, and he didn’t want to go for that, but he landed in the bushes and we saved the day anyway,” San Diego PD Lt. Mark Bennett told NBC San Diego. “It feels like a win for me.”