08/14/2026
Some calls remind us exactly why we train.
Monday morning, our crew responded to Bryan, who had been having some mild, intermittent chest discomfort the day before and again that morning. It wasn’t constant, and it wasn’t necessarily what he thought a heart attack would feel like.
What really made him question what was going on was a strange feeling in his arms.
That detail matters, because emergencies do not always present in the most obvious way.
Our crew performed a thorough assessment and obtained a 12-lead EKG.
What they found was serious: Bryan was having a heart attack affecting multiple areas of his heart.
Because of their training, experience, and ability to interpret what they were seeing, the crew recognized the urgency of the situation and got Bryan the advanced cardiac care he needed.
The crew caring for Bryan that morning was Paramedic Josh Thompson, Paramedic Matt Wooten and EMT Sarah Bohnsack. Their training, teamwork, and quick recognition helped set the next steps in motion.
Fast-forward just a few days.
Bryan was released from the hospital Thursday, and this morning, he walked into our fire department to thank the crew who cared for him and helped save his life.
That is a moment our providers won’t soon forget.
It is also a powerful reminder that serious medical emergencies do not always look the way we expect them to. Sometimes it isn’t crushing chest pain. Sometimes the discomfort comes and goes. Sometimes it is an unusual feeling in your arms or simply the sense that something isn’t right.
That is why our providers train the way they do.
Our EMS crews spend countless hours studying, practicing, continuing their education, keeping up with changes in emergency medicine, and becoming proficient with the advanced equipment carried on our ambulances. Much of that work happens quietly, long before the tones ever drop.
A 12-lead EKG may look like a series of lines on a screen, but to a trained provider, those lines can reveal that the heart is being injured and how urgently a patient needs care.
In our department , we don’t believe in doing the bare minimum.
We don’t train simply to check a box, meet a requirement, or hope what we already know will be enough.
We strive to be the best we can be.
We study. We practice. We ask questions. We keep learning. And we challenge ourselves to recognize the things that may not be obvious, because sometimes those subtle signs are the ones that matter most.
We don’t train just to meet a standard. We train because our community is counting on us.
That morning, Bryan needed that training.
This morning, he walked back through our doors.
Seeing him standing there, able to shake the hands and hug the people who cared for him, was a reminder of why every hour of training, every class, every skill practiced, and every investment in our equipment matters.
Bryan, thank you for coming back to see the crew and for allowing your experience to be a reminder to others.
And to our community: please don’t ignore something simply because it doesn’t look or feel like the emergency you expected. Sometimes it’s not the obvious things that tell us something is wrong. Listen to your body and seek help when something doesn’t feel right.
Behind every ambulance, every piece of equipment, and every provider who answers your call are countless hours of preparation… all with one goal in mind:
To be ready for you when it matters most.
