Six members of the Vernon Township Fire Department were honored on Tuesday night for their rescue of Mt. Vernon Student Shawn Houser following an automobile accident this summer.
Captain Shaun Nelson, Lieutenant Richard Hiser, Firefighter/Medic Nathan Goodman and Firefighters/Emergency Medical Technicians Tony Lucas, John Hiatt and Grant Kennedy were honored at the meeting on Tuesday.
Fire Chief Mark Elder said that he was proud of the performance of the firefighters and paramedics and their utilization of their training in such a dire situation.
“How critical the patient was when they got there, the number of other patients that they were having to deal with at the time, middle of the night, the vehicle’s off the road, it’s dark, just a multitude of factors and they overcame them all,” Elder said. “They performed exceptionally well, and the outcome speaks for itself.”
Both Nelson and Goodman said that there was nothing can fully prepare you for a scenario, especially one as dire as they found that night in June, but that runs like this one stick with them over time. Kennedy, though, highlighted a specific piece of training that he was in the midst of when the call occurred.
“Spending lots of extensive time training helped us stay calm and work diligently in this situation,” Kennedy said. “Vernon Township Fire Department was putting on an Advanced EMT course which we spent multiple hours in class reviewing and studying emergencies like this event.”
Elder noted that the merging of the township’s fire departments and the transition to a full-time, rather than volunteer, force was crucial in the crew’s ability to respond quickly.
“Before, people would have been responding from home in the middle of the night to go to the fire station to pick up trucks and respond to the scene,” Elder said. “Now we are on station 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the response is immediate … and when you’re dealing with these types of incidents, any incident, minutes, even seconds count.”
Nelson said he’s been glad to see and hear about Shawn’s recovery in the months since the accident.
“It is always good to hear that patients are doing well, especially patients that go through what Shawn did. I was able to hear about how he was doing throughout his recovery,” Nelson said. “It is amazing that he is up, doing things at home and working towards being able to get his life back to somewhat normal or a new normal for him. Shawn has an amazing community that is there to support him and his family.”
A GoFundMe to help cover the costs of Shawn’s treatment and rehab, which are ongoing.
