Pictured L-R; EMT Jay Edwards, Carol Carrol, and Paramedic Christopher Crawshaw
Fifty-two-year-old Carol Carroll woke up on May 6, 2014, with a great sense of pride. Her son, Tyler, was receiving a scholarship at his senior banquet and she had a lot to do before the night’s festivities.
Once her errands were complete, Carroll made her way to the Beauregard Exhibit Hall in DeRidder, Louisiana, to help setup for the event. Feeling fatigued, she took a seat at a nearby table. “I was tired from running around town all day, so I sat down and closed my eyes to rest for a few minutes.”
Soon after closing her eyes, Carroll lost consciousness and stopped breathing. Noticing Carroll hunched over, Chris Demansky, a military veteran, assessed the situation and immediately began CPR. Acadian Ambulance was called and on scene in a matter of minutes.
“She had no pulse when my partner, Jay Edwards and I, arrived,” said Paramedic Christopher Crawshaw. “With the color leaving her body, we knew we had to act fast or we would lose her.”
Crawshaw and Edwards used an automated external defibrillator on Carroll twice before she regained consciousness.
“We all let out a sigh of relief when she took that first breath,” said Edwards. “She was no longer a shade of blue and her pulse just kept getting stronger and stronger.”
After being transported to Beauregard Memorial Hospital, Carroll only remembered one thing: a text message she sent to her son.
“I remember texting to few photos to Tyler and saying how proud I was of him and that’s it,” Carrol said. “I had to look back at the photos to remember what the exhibit hall even looked like.”
In honor of the men who saved her life, Carroll presented a proclamation to each.
“How do you thank someone for saving your life,” Carroll asked. “There is nothing I can ever do or say that will properly express the gratitude I have for these gentlemen. Thanks to them, I get to see my son graduate.”
“I am so proud of our team,” said Operations Manager Jeff Pogue. “It’s wonderful for our medics to meet the patients they have saved, and feel appreciated and to know their service matters.”
Since 1971, Acadian has provided the highest level of emergency medical care and transportation possible. In the past decade, the company has expanded to include a diverse suite of services in health, safety, and transportation. Acadian’s six divisions are Acadian Ambulance Service, Acadian Monitoring Services, Air Med, Executive Aircraft Charter Service, National EMS Academy and Safety Management Systems.
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