Life savers honored at Phoenix Awards
First responders are often life savers.
In Lee County between October 2015 and March 2016, 34 lives were saved due to the quick work of dispatchers, fire crews, EMTs police, and even ordinary citizens.
Most often, the recipient never gets to meet his or her heroes to thank them. On Monday, at the Phoenix Award Ceremony at the Harborside Event Center, some of those people had their chance and, in many cases, there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen.
Presented by the Lee County Division of Public Safety, the commendation is named after the bird in Greek mythology that rises from the dead out of the ashes. It is awarded to those who saved people from possible death due to cardiac arrest; Lee County EMS, police, firefighters, dispatchers, even civilians.
The North Fort Myers Fire Department was among the agencies recognized.
Personnel responded to a call that someone had gone into “respiratory arrest,” according to the call.
Among the citizen lifesavers was the victim’s husband, who was given instructions by dispatcher Eric Schrader. He had started life-saving measures before emergency crews arrived on the scene.
“We had a patient that went into cardiac arrest. Our firefighter and EMS responders came and did their job,” North Fort Myers Fire & Rescue Chief David Rice said.
“We got a call for a respiratory arrest and we responded along with Lee County EMS, who got on the scene prior to our arrival and confirmed it was a cardiac arrest. They performed CPR and we assisted and followed through with their protocol,” Lt. Mark Westra said.
Schrader, Westra and firefighters Martin Gembecki and Eric Klos, paramedic Thomas Smith and EMT Fernando Zavala were recognized for their heroism.
Although many of the survivors come to personally thank these heroes, the survivor in this case was not present.
Westra said it took them about 15 to 20 minutes to restore a pulse, with Eric Klos joining EMS personnel on the trip to Gulf Coast hospital.
Klos, who takes as many as 20 calls a day, hundreds per year, said he doesn’t remember much about the call.
“I ran the report and it doesn’t ring a bell. I was there, though,” Klos said. “Sometimes they all run together and many times we don’t follow up on afterpatient care following the trip to the hospital.”
Since 2013, 29 North Fort Myers firefighters have been recognized with a Phoenix Award, Rice said, crediting an excellent staff for their hard work.
“That’s our job. We are there 24/7 to deliver first responder services and it’s just proof we’re out there saving lives and doing their jobs,” Rice said.
“We’re committed to what we do and it’s a group effort,” Westra said. “We serve the community.”