Touching reunions for EMS officials and patients they saved

EMS crews don’t often get to meet the people they save.

So when three emergency officials came face to face with patients on Tuesday afternoon, it was just as special to them as it was to those who were once in their care.

To kick off National Paramedic Services Week, AHS reunited Colleen Evans with her EMS duo Kristy Gal and Bob Sornberger, as well as Curtis Gagne and paramedic Jarrod Ham.

Last month, Evans collapsed at a southwest convenience store and eventually went into cardiac arrest.

Gal and Sornberger made the critical decision to initiate CPR and go directly to the hospital instead of waiting for backup.

“It absolutely means a lot,” Evans said. “I had this opportunity today to actually meet them and tell them myself from my heart how I felt.”

Sornberger, who has been on the job for 26 years, said the incident has stayed with him.

“It’s always nice to see a great outcome of any incident that we have,” he said. “To see them in a very bad state at first and then watch then weeks later watch them walk out and be as fully aware and healthy as Colleen is, it’s always a pleasure.”

“We don’t really get to see them very often or their outcomes very often, so for them to kind of reach out to us, it’s a neat thing,” Gal said, whose been an emergency responder for 11 years.

While it only took weeks for Evans and her saviours to meet, it took almost four years for Gagne and Ham.

Back in 2012 when Gagne was 19, he got into a severe car crash in Crossfield, with Ham and his partner arriving on scene.

When they arrived, Gagne had severe head trauma and lockjaw, blocking oxygen to the brain, so Ham and his partner had to paralyse him and capture his airway, so that oxygen could continue to flow to his body.

While Gagne suffered brain damage, it could’ve been much worse to potentially fatal had the EMS crew not intervened they way they did.

Now 23, Gagne continues to recover after being unable to move or speak, with a goal of one day getting back to hiking.

“I think I should stress how important your job is,” he said to Ham. “I’m sure the families of patients I met would agree most heartedly, I imagine you must wonder how a person you’ve rescued is doing and that must be frustrating.”

Jarrod Ham and Curtis Gagne

“So for me, everyone I met and every single life you’ve saved, I’ll just say thank you.”

Ham admits he was nervous for the encounter.

“It’s incredibly gratifying,” Ham said. “The problem is we just get soundbites of patients, we get in, we see them at their worst.”

“It’s remarkable,” he added about Gagne’s recovery. “It’s why we do this and I know that’s a cliche, but that’s why we do it.”

Gagne’s mother Darlene said after seeing what her son has gone through for the last four years, she understands the kind of work Ham and his partner did four years ago to save his life.

“That value for life is what we really appreciate because had they just given up sooner, we wouldn’t have him, so that to us was just huge, they kept at it and that is to be commended,” she said.

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