By EMS1 Staff
SAN FRANCISCO — A paramedic who was motivated to join the field after seeing her father die from a drug overdose had the chance to save a family member (she didn’t know about) while on the job.
NBC Bay Area reported that San Francisco Fire Department Paramedic Angela Castro responded to a call last year for a woman who was pinned between her SUV and her home after the vehicle’s parking brake failed.
“This is going to be bad,” Castro remembered thinking. “I am either going to be holding someone as they die or doing anything I can (to save them).”
After 40 minutes of working, Castro and her partner managed to keep Linda Ruiz alive as firefighters lifted the car off her pelvis.
“It was difficult because she was giving me her last rites,” Castro said. “’Tell my family this, tell my family that.’”
The call was an emotional experience for Castro, and after they safely transported Ruiz to the hospital, she was told the call was one of a kind.
“The Division Chief told me I wouldn’t see another call like this for 50 years in San Francisco,” she said.
A few weeks later, the call became even more profound, when Castro’s sister called her and told her that Ruiz was actually related to the family by marriage.
“She was saying, ‘Linda, that lady you saved? She’s related to us! She’s family!’” Castro said
Castro, was finally able to save a family member.
“Yeah, I did it. Totally. I did.”