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Fla. EMS providers awarded for saving 12-year-old trauma patient

Paramedic Tyler Van Alstine and EMT Ginger Jacobs transported the girl after inclement weather prevented an air ambulance response

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Roxanne Brown
Daily Commercial, Leesburg, Fla.

TAVARES, Fla. — Members of Lake County’s Emergency Management Services team were recently honored for their life-saving efforts.

Tyler Van Alstine and Ginger Jacobs were not only recognized by county commissioners, but were also presented with awards by representatives from Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children for their actions during a pediatric trauma call on November 8, 2019, when Lake EMS was dispatched to a two-car head-on collision on County Road 44.

According to reports, Van Alstine determined that one of the most critically injured patients, a 12-year-old girl, needed trauma support, but inclement weather prevented air transport.

That’s when Van Alstine and his partner, EMT Jacobs, with assistance from the Leesburg Fire Department, transported the patient to Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando.

“With helicopter support unavailable, they drove the patient to Arnold Palmer Hospital and performed several life-saving maneuvers along the way. Everyone did what they were trained to do, and because of it, the patient is alive today,” said Dr. Donald Plumley, Chief of Pediatrics Trauma Surgery at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.

Lake EMS teams work closely with area hospitals such as Orlando Health to carry out trainings and drills so they are fully prepared for emergency situations like this, said County officials in a press release Monday.

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©2020 Daily Commercial, Leesburg, Fla.

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