Mitchell Marbady accepted the awards for the North Adams Ambulance Service team who was honored with the Save Award from Judy Voll.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It was Christmas Eve when the call came in. A man was dying at a church. 

 

North Adams Ambulance Service rushed to the scene and found the 64-year-old without a pulse. They administered CPR and delivered a defibrillator shock and the man's vital signs began to return. They loaded him into ambulance and treated him for the entire ride to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

 

 Eventually, the patient walked out of the hospital without any neurological or physical damage, thanks to the efforts of the four emergency medical technicians — Tim Safford, Mitchell Marbady, Kaitlyn Kline, and Amanda Tobin.

 

Those four were honored Friday at the annual Emergency Medical Services of Berkshire County banquet. The event coincides with EMS Week and gives recognition to first responders for their life-saving efforts.

 

"There are a lot of great things that happen on a day-to-day basis," said EMSCo President Brian Andrews. "We need to make sure we recognize people who do good."

 

When a 69-year-old Pittsfield man collapsed while on the treadmill at a local gym, it was four emergency medical technicians from County Ambulance that saved him. The Fire Department found the man in cardiac arrest and immediately started CPR and applied an AED. 

 

Sean Sommers, Sean Duma, Greg Owen, and John Kirchner from County got there, placed him on a long board and brought him to the ambulance. The man re-arrested and the EMTs delivered another shock and provided life support. They turned him over the Berkshire Medical Center's emergency department and he was later transferred to Baystate Medical Center. He, too, was discharged home without any damage.

 

Those were the only two "Save Awards" this year, which is the lowest number they've ever had. Andrews said it is sometimes difficult to get the first-responding agencies to submit nominations because they all feel "it is just part of the job." But Andrews noted that post-traumatic stress and suicides are a growing issue among first-responders and the good things each one does really needs to be emphasized.

 

Richard Beebe, who has been a paramedic since 1988, a Guilderland, N.Y., police officer and an EMS educator, has seen what stress can do to a paramedic. He and his partner had responded to a child in distress but could not save him. His partner told him that he was "haunted" by the incident, but seemed to cheer up. Then Beebe got a call at 3 a.m. saying his friend had shot himself.

Amalio Jusino of the North Adams Ambulance Service is the EMS Educator of the Year.

He didn't believe how much the bad cases stressed out responders out until he applied for a job with a sheriff's department. He was hooked up to a polygraph and peppered with questions ranging from basic to absurd. 

 

The testers asked him if he ever killed someone. He said no. They reworded it and asked if he ever intentionally did something that led to a death. He said no.

 

They unhooked the machine and a detective came in and started asking for more details about his life. The polygraph had picked up something. Somewhere in his subconscious, he was feeling guilt that he may not have done enough to save a patient. He eventually passed the polygraph after talking that through with the detective.

 

Taking some of the most noted "regrets" from a book he read, Beebe told his fellow responders to share their feelings to reduce the stress, not to work too hard and to instead find balance in their lives.

 

Also at the event, Amalio Jusino of the North Adams Ambulance Service was honored as the EMS Educator of the Year and Victoria Maxwell was honored as the Physician Assistant of the Year.