By EMS1 Staff
KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — A paramedic who worked for President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara at their Maine home for several summers praised him for helping him fulfill his dreams to go to medical school to become a physician assistant.
FOX News reported that paramedic Josh Grzyb was accepted to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science the day before Bush died, thanks to a letter of recommendation the former president had written for him.
From 2015 to 2017, Grzyb was part of a small medical aid team at the family’s Kennebunkport home, and his duties included administering medication, as well as little things such as helping Bush pick out his eclectic socks.
“Although I worked with President Bush and Barbara Bush, even though I was an employee for them, I still felt like they were the grandparents I never had,” Grzyb said, adding that the couple was “always inquisitive about my life, my relationships and my career.”
Grzyb said he told Bush last year that he hoped to someday go to medical school to become a physician assistant and asked if he would be willing to write a letter of recommendation.
“Without hesitation or question thereof, he wanted to see my dream come true, and he wanted to do anything to help in that process,” Grzyb said.
Bush praised Grzyb in the letter for his “bedside manner, caring nature and work ethic.”
“Josh has spent his adult life dedicated to public service,” Bush wrote. “Both Barbara and I have spent a lot of time with Josh, and we think very highly of him. We recommend him without reservation to your medical school. We know he will make a wonderful physician.”
Grzyb said he was unable to tell Bush he had been accepted into the school before he died, and wished he could have been able to thank him.
“It was truly an honor and inspiration to work for such a humble man with such reverence and respect,” Grzyb said. “He was a giving, compassionate man, always going out of his way to make a difference, make people laugh no matter how bad he felt.”
Grzyb added that he wanted “to say thank you for all his years of service – what he’s done for our country, what he’s done for me.”
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