By EMS1 Staff
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A firefighter-EMT was given a prestigious award after showing “outstanding professionalism” in the care of a family after a fatal crash.
Gainesville Times reported that Hall County Fire Services firefighter-EMT Elizabeth Taylor and her partner responded to a fatal crash last December. Elizabeth Alvarez-Perez and her family were on their way home from church when the crash occurred, killing 19-year-old Jesus Alvarez-Perez. The rest of the family was taken to the ICU.
“When we found out that our patient, as well as her family, was still going to be in the ICU through Christmas, we hated that for them,” firefighter-EMT Taylor said. “We wanted to ensure that they weren’t alone on Christmas.”
Taylor and her partner tried to visit the family at the hospital on Christmas, only to find that the family had already been discharged.
“Being the stubborn people that we are, we still wanted to see them and just let them know that we cared about them and that our patient care didn’t stop at that point,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the “world kept getting smaller,” when she discovered the Alvarez-Perez family went to the same church as she did.
“My heart was just pounding with joy, because I was able to meet these two wonderful people that did everything ... to help my daughter,” Alvarez-Perez said.
Taylor said her care philosophy stems from her instructor at North Georgia Technical College, who said to “treat each patient like they are family.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to make that stretch, but other times it’s very easy,” Taylor said.