Trending Topics

N.Y. EMT dies while working a 24-hour shift

EMT Steven Walsh was a member of the Copake Rescue Squad and the A.B. Shaw Fire Company

By Bill Carey
EMS1

COPAKE, N.Y. — The Columbia County Fire Coordinator’s office announced the line-of-duty death of an EMT in Copake.

Steven Walsh, an EMT with the Copake Rescue Squad and a firefighter with the A.B. Shaw Fire Company, died after suffering a medical episode during a 24-hour EMT shift on Nov. 16, NEWS 10 reported.

Walsh, 60, served as a pilot and flight engineer with the Air National Guard’s 105th Airlift Wing in Newburgh from 1992 to 2001, participating in wartime and peacetime missions. He was training to become a certified Advanced EMT with the Regional Emergency Medical Organization.

“Steve was a one-of-a-kind student who showed a true passion for EMS and his community. He did what he loved every day, was kind, always early for class like he was for his shifts, looked out for his classmates, and had a positive attitude every session,” a REMO instructor said in a social media post. “As the first student to join our course, we knew he was excited to become more involved as a field provider at the ALS level, learn all he could, and continue to develop his knowledge and skills. We already miss all the stories he would share with us every week, and most importantly, we, his instructors and classmates, miss his warm presence in our classroom. His memory and service will live on.”

Trending
Community members and first responders lined the route as Smith’s body was flown to Red Bluff and continued by ground procession after she died from injuries in the Highway 50 medevac crash
Merced County supervisors voted unanimously to award the EMS contract to American Medical Response, saying Riggs met response standards only six months in five years
After an anonymous post urged people to aim lasers at helicopters near Portland’s South Waterfront ICE facility, medevacs avoided Oregon Health & Science University’s hospital helipad
Despite safety gains, the expanding industry still faces renewed hazards and hundreds of thousands of annual flight hours and transports