Letter to Editor | Gratitude to First Responders

— from Virginia Erhardt —

On Thursday evening, as I was driving home from the ferry, I began to experience extreme tightness and pain in my chest as well as nausea. It was a totally unfamiliar sensation, not like heartburn. I pulled over across from the Nutts’ property and called 911. Before I was off the phone with the dispatcher, all those sensations had stopped, but I stayed and waited for the ambulance.

What I got was volunteer firefighter Liam Nutt, who immediately came from his home across the road, checked my pulse, and made me feel very safe and calm. Then I got two ambulances, one with two EMTs, Jane and Lulu; and another with the incomparable Paramedic, Battalion Chief Patrick Shepler.

Jane and Lulu were so kind and gentle and did a great job on my EKG. Patrick gave me five baby aspirin and read the EKG, saying that he thought the incident was mild enough that there was no need to fly me off. He recommended calling my doctor in the morning as well as a cardiologist. Patrick made sure I had his card and that I would call again if I experienced any more symptoms.

I am so grateful for the super high quality emergency medical services we have here. I couldn’t have been in the hands of more qualified, caring, compassionate, dedicated people. I followed Patrick’s suggestions and have had no recurrence of those symptoms.