Bridget Cooke
WiscNews
BARABOO, Wis. — Nicole Smithback felt her “entire world” stop when she received a call May 29 that her husband, Michael, was unresponsive and being flown via MedFlight to UW Hospital in Madison.
That’s what she wrote in a message thanking Baraboo District Ambulance Service paramedics for their life-saving measures after a car accident that caused life threatening injuries for her husband.
Nicole, a healthcare administrator in the Madison area, said she was glad that responders “arrived swiftly” and “acted immediately” as Michael was unresponsive and barely breathing.
“You knew he was in desperate trouble,” she wrote. “He was admitted to UW Health Emergency Department as a Level 1 Trauma head injury ‘John Doe’ patient, but please make no mistake, he is more than a John Doe. He is Michael Smithback, and he’s the kindest soul that I’ve ever known.”
Many would not have survived such head trauma, but thanks to the efforts of four BDAS paramedics, Michael lived through the next five months.
He was even able to attend an Ambulance Commission meeting Wednesday where EMS Chief Caleb Johnson awarded Capt. Matthew Koepp, acting Lt. Logan Rabata, Dennis Worden and Ida Feine with certificates of recognition for their work that day.
Michael Smithback took a few moments to express his gratitude for their response.
“All I can say is thank you,” he said. “Because of everyone’s actions, I am here today, and I am grateful.”
He attended the meeting with Nicole and their 8-year-old Evelyn. After the presentation, the group spent some time talking about Michael’s hospital stays and surgeries, with Nicole showing the paramedics photos of his misshapen skull as he was healing.
They discussed how many health professionals said it was “a miracle” Michael survived while also talking about life and hospitals, sharing laughs in the hallway outside the meeting room.
“Just the fact that you’re standing here is amazing,” Koepp said to Michael at one point.
For the responders, Johnson said it was a good feeling to not only find out what happened to someone they cared for, but to discover it was a positive outcome. He said when the email came Oct. 14 thanking the paramedics for their work and outlining Michael’s ongoing recovery, it was a good feeling.
“I really appreciated and thanked Nicole for it because we don’t get a lot of follow up,” Johnson said.
Nicole let them know who her husband is; “an avid outdoorsman” who “loves cars” and has nothing but adoration from, and for, Evelyn. She also explained how he was rushed into emergency surgery June 1 due to brain hemorrhaging, undergoing a craniectomy and partial temporal lobectomy, procedures that involve removing a portion of the skull and a piece of the temporal lobe of his brain.
Despite doctors warning that he may not live, Michael returned home more than two weeks later and had bone replaced at the end of August. He returned to work Sept. 23, she wrote.
“Because of your team, five months later, Michael is with us and thriving,” Nicole wrote. “Our family of 3 is complete.”
Johnson said he and staff members were grateful to also hear someone say they appreciate their work during a stressful time. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a difficult work atmosphere, even more so than usual, for emergency responders. They go home every day worrying they may be transmitting a potentially deadly virus to their loved ones, he said.
It was kind words from Nicole about their choice to be EMTs and paramedics that struck him most, Johnson said.
“It is important to us that we share our story to help you and your team members know that each one of you matter,” Nicole wrote. “Your work matters, and absolutely doesn’t go unnoticed. Because of your actions that night, my husband tucks our daughter in and lays beside me every night. ... We can never say thank you enough.”
___
(c)2020 WiscNews