LUBBOCK, Texas — A dialysis patient is commending paramedics who helped him get to the hospital when he was snowed in and unable to go outside.
Bill Johnson was supposed to receive dialysis on Tuesday but wasn’t able to leave his house because of the snow and ice, Everything Lubbock reported.
He called the city for help without success. By Wednesday, his blood pressure reached 205 over 109 and he was feeling tired and short of breath.
Johnson called 911 and three paramedics from UMC responded.
The medics weren’t able to drive their ambulance on Johnson’s street so they used a four-wheel drive vehicle to get to him. They suggested he drive himself to dialysis because the city’s hospital was swamped.
The paramedics spent the next half hour shoveling out snow from Johnson’s driveway and driving tracks in the snow with their vehicle.
“These three guys, they’re tremendous, like all paramedics, they went above and beyond the call of duty, but nobody recognizes them,” Johnson told Everything Lubbock. He added the medics called the city to help clear the street but they were denied assistance.
"(The paramedics) did a job that the City of Lubbock should have done, their job is to take people to the hospital, not work on roads,” Johnson said. “They’re great guys, and I think they ought to be commended for what they did, because they saved my life in a way.”