As I perused through my sites yesterday, lo and behold there I am watching a news cast with Jay talking to the camera about saving a young girl’s life by performing CPR. What a life saver! I give you a huge hug Jay!!
I’ve worked with Jay in the past and this doesn’t surprise me at all. His past will never leave him! He’s been a great EMT and a great Instructor too. Please click on the video and headlines below, enjoy the goosebumps and by all means send him congratulations through Twitter and Facebook too! This is what EMS personnel are all about. You can leave the fire/EMS service but the service NEVER leaves you!!
FORT MYERS: A maintenance worker at Brittany Apartments in Fort Myers is credited with saving two-year-old Katia Gool’s life Monday.
The toddler was not breathing when a delivery truck slammed into the back of the 1994 Ford Escort she was in. Fort Myers Fire Department officials say the car had a flat tire in the 4000 block of Winker Avenue Extension westbound.
Jay Hernandez spent 22 years as a firefighter in Minnesota before moving to Florida. His co-workers called him on his radio after the accident happened shortly before 4 p.m. Monday.
“(I was) trying to figure out if there was anybody I knew that could help because I know I don’t know CPR myself,” Brittany Apartments employee Stacey Gettys said. “When I saw what was going on, I was like, ‘Oh, Jay, where is he?’ ”
Hernandez hopped in his golf cart and rushed to the accident scene.
“I noticed that she wasn’t breathing and she had no pulse,” Hernandez said, recalling Katia’s condition as he arrived. “She was actually dead.”
In all, all four people in the Ford Escort were taken to Lee Memorial Hospital.
Two adults and a six-year-old boy were treated and released, but Katia was taken to Tampa General Hospital.
Her nurses said she is doing well after surgery and is expected to be released within the next two weeks.
Timothy Vanmeter, the driver of the delivery truck, was not injured.
“This is what it’s all about – people taking the time out of their day to help others. We really appreciate that,” Fort Myers Police Sgt. Brian O’Reilly said. “It was amazing. There was a couple of Good Samaritans that dropped what they were doing. They ran over to assist and they immediately began CPR.”
Hernandez points out a nurse was also among first on scene. She had treated the six-year-old boy.
By Paul Gessler