Lifesavers: GFD rescues local woman Published June 17, 2010 By Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner 434th ARW Public Affairs GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- The call goes in, the alarm goes off, and the men of Rescue 5 race through the firehouse to their trusted vehicle. Blazing in a red flurry of bright lights and screaming sirens, Rescue 5 does something most Air Force emergency response vehicles don't do: it races off base. The Grissom firefighters roll up on a house in a local community. Not knowing what to expect, they are met by a terrified man pleading with them to hurry; they know this isn't good and rush in to find a woman clinging to life's last threads. Far from a scripted scene in a dramatic movie, this story is a real-life account of a recent life-saving run made by Grissom Fire Department's Rescue 5 crew here as told by the woman they saved. On the morning of May 23, Aaron Dehner, Anthony Harper, Nathan Kraemer and James Jones were dispatched to a local neighborhood where they found Rita Lawrence, who was having respiratory issues. "Upon our arrival we found an elderly female on the floor with respirations around six per minute; the normal adult respirations are around 12-20 breathes per minute," said Mr. Jones. "The crew knew right away we needed to put in an advanced airway and breathe for her." Due to the prompt reaction time of Grissom firefighters, their knowledge and skill, as well as Grissom's proximity to her home, Mrs. Lawrence not only survived, but was able to visit the base and thank Rescue 5's crew for saving her life after going into anaphylactic shock from medication issues. "The doctor said 'in two more minutes you'd been pushing up daisies,' and I don't even like daisies" said Mrs. Lawrence recounting how close her brush with death was. "Everybody takes (Grissom firefighters) for granted; if they ever stop coming out in this area, we're in a heap of trouble." And, it is clear that Grissom's finest want to continue providing life saving support to the local community. "It's important for Grissom Fire to support the community, as many of the base employees and family members live near the base," said Grissom Fire Chief John Ireland. "In addition, our firefighters are on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, fully trained and equipped and want to be involved with the local community." Firefighter Jones agreed with the fire chief passionately. "This means a lot to me as firefighters are servants to the community; not only do we have the responsibility to Grissom, but we are lucky enough to be able to respond off base and help the surrounding community," he explained. "I come to work every day and know that what we do something that will in some way impact someone's life; whether it is putting out a house fire or providing life support to someone trapped inside of a wrecked car." Personal job satisfaction is far from the only benefit Grissom receives from going off base to help people. Grissom firefighters go through approximately 15 training sessions per month to stay current on various life-saving techniques, but it's the time spent actually saving lives that provides the most benefit to the base. "Our firefighters are very good at their job because they are out providing emergency services every day, and gaining invaluable experience," said Chief Ireland. "You can't put a price on a life saved, and the cost is minimal to the government compared to what we receive. "For us responding off base, we receive training, medical direction and supplies from Miami County (Emergency Management System), not to mention the experience which makes our firefighters better, and in turn makes us more capable of protecting the base because we are not just training for emergencies we are actually responding to them every day," he added. And, all that training and experience is what Mr. Jones would gladly put his trust in should the need arise. "The training we get is the meat and potatoes of our job, and our confidence comes from the hours of training and job studying that we do," he said. "Without a doubt if I was in an accident I would want the Grissom firefighters working on me; we go through so much training, I have no doubts that our guys could handle any type of emergency thrown their way." As testament to their advanced training and experience, Grissom's firefighters so far have confirmed saving two lives, and typically can confirm saving an average of four lives a year, but that number may be significantly lower than reality. "It's really hard to say when you look at all the runs we respond to and administer emergency care," explained Chief Ireland. "It's hard to say what the outcome would be to those people without our response and immediate care." And, saving those lives can sometimes appear to be a thankless job said Mr. Jones explaining that it's not often someone comes to the fire station to thank the firefighters for saving their life. But, that's not why they do it, he added. "I think every guy here goes to bed at night with a smile on his face because of what he has contributed as a Grissom firefighter; I know I do," said Mr. Jones. "Mrs. Lawrence introduced her grandson to us and said if it wasn't for us that he'd no longer have a grandma. "She also said because of us she now has two birthdays; her original day and the day we saved her life," he added. "That in itself is thanks enough."
