2020 has been a more-than-eventful year, bringing out countless examples of EMS providers going above and beyond the call of duty to render care and protect their communities. These 10 stories are examples of EMS providers faced with unexpected circumstances, whose quick off-duty decisions helped save lives.
1. Runner Rescue
Hialeah (Florida) Firefighter-Paramedic Francisco de Paz was running the Life Time Miami Half Marathon on Feb. 11, 2020, when a fellow athlete collapsed on the course. De Paz, along with his brother, George de Paz, stopped in his tracks, and Francisco performed chest compressions while George gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The brothers stayed with the patient until backup arrived; the patient survived, and the brothers went on to cross the finish line.
https://www.facebook.com/HialeahFD/posts/2536885583251477
2. Roadside resuscitation
Oak Creek (Wisconsin) Firefighter-Paramedic Michael Wargolet encountered a parent’s worst nightmare while driving home from coaching a youth hockey tournament in February. He spotted a man waving for help on the side of the road and pulled over to find a woman holding a pulseless 3-month-old baby boy. Wargolet performed CPR for two minutes on the infant until he began breathing again and crying. The infant was treated at the hospital and released, and Wargolet said the incident exemplifies the importance of early bystander CPR.
https://www.facebook.com/ocfire/posts/3106997886001588
3. Hunters and helpers
Umatilla County Fire District (Oregon) Firefighter-Paramedics Trevor and Gaige Phillips, another pair of brothers, were on an out-of-state hunting trip hosted by McLennan County (Texas) Sheriff Joseph Ballew on Mar. 2, 2020, when the trio came upon a vehicle wreck in a ditch late at night. The off-duty first responders worked to stabilize the teen driver until local EMS crews arrived. Ballew said the teen was hurt but expected to survive his injuries.
4. Living room triage
Putnam County (Tennessee) Firefighter-EMT Darrell Jennings faced a disaster in his own community when tornadoes swept through the state on Mar. 3, 2020. Jennings said his house was the last one left standing after his neighborhood was hit in the storm. He quickly set up a makeshift triage center in his living room where he assessed at least 20 of his neighbors, including children and victims who were badly injured. Jennings’ wife and children also pitched in, keeping neighbors warm with their own clothes and walking through debris to go out and find more help.
5. Hospital Staff gets a hand
Many acts of heroism have come out of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, and this one highlights the brotherhood and sisterhood of caregivers on the front lines of the international crisis. When emergency department staff at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, were overwhelmed with an influx of patients in early April, 14 off-duty EMS providers and nurses, as well as a Northstar helicopter crew, answered their call for help. EMS providers assisted nurses in setting up monitors, starting IVs and getting critically ill patients to ventilators. The support from off-duty colleagues brought many nurses to tears of relief and gratitude.
6. FDNY EMT braves Burning home
FDNY EMT Daniel Marcano unwittingly became the first hands on the scene of an all-hands house fire in his Queens neighborhood on July 1, 2020. Marcano kicked down the door of his neighbor’s house, found one of his neighbors about 7-10 feet inside the smoke-filled residence and carried the victim to safety. Marcano alerted FDNY firefighters who had arrived on the scene of another person inside, and another neighbor was rescued from the second floor by Lt. John Norman.
https://www.facebook.com/FDNY/posts/10158316077425729?__tn__=%2CO*F
7. EMT/BOAT CAPTAIN RESPONDS TO S.O.S.
Charlotte County (Florida) Fire and EMS Firefighter-EMT Todd Schwalbe, a member of the department’s Marine Operations team and also the captain of his own boat, was out sailing with a crew of divers when he noticed other boaters in distress. The other vessel was taking on water, and Schwalbe quickly took the stranded sailors onto his own boat before calling the Coast Guard and local police department for assistance.
https://www.facebook.com/CCFEMS/posts/3245295532196554
8. A team effort to save a team member
When one off-duty paramedic suffered a medical emergency, other off-duty colleagues stepped in to save his life. Empress EMS (N.Y.) Paramedic Matthew Tuttle was on a bike ride with fellow Medics William Rothschild and Ronald Pugh on Aug. 2, 2020, when he went into cardiac arrest. Rothschild and Pugh immediately began CPR and called for help, with several on-duty Empress medics arriving soon after to perform advanced life support measures and get Tuttle to the hospital. Tuttle was able to return home after just three days in the hospital.
9. Pro boxer swings into action
Toledo (Ohio) Firefighter-EMT DeAndre Ware, who is also a professional boxer, had just left the stage after a weigh-in at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas when a boxing official, Top Rank Coordinator Pete Susens, suffered an apparent heart attack. Ware swung into action and performed CPR, assisted by onsite doctors from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Susens later regained consciousness and was treated at the hospital.
https://www.facebook.com/toledofirerescue/posts/1792771564207019
10. An eventful English lesson
When Wisconsin EMT Luke Vayder sat down for his English class at Hillsdale College (Mich.) in September, he probably didn’t expect he would be responding to a medical emergency, but Vayder quickly recognized his professor, Dr. Michael Jordan, was showing signs of a stroke and stopped class to help get Jordan to the hospital. Jordan had suffered a transient ischemic attack and got the treatment he needed to return back to teaching one week later. No word on if he gave Vayder any extra credit.
https://twitter.com/CTCLColleges/status/1307303468416278529?s=20
Read next: I’m an EMT, I can help: Getting involved when off-duty
