It’s a day Tim Garrett will never forget – the day he almost died.
“I don’t remember collapsing,” he recalled. “I remember waking up in the hospital with a tube down my throat.”
It was a cold February afternoon in 2013 when Tim felt a sharp pain in his chest while talking to his wife, Ossi, in the kitchen. Seconds later he hit the ground, as he went into cardiac arrest.
“At first I thought he was making a joke,” Ossi explained. “But quickly realized it was something serious.
Ossi called 911 as the couple’s daughter performed CPR. However, there were no ambulances available. Lethbridge Fire and Emergency Services sent a fire truck instead, which arrived at the scene in less than 10 minutes.
The paramedics on the fire crew worked quickly to revive Tim. Shortly after getting his heart rate stable, an ambulance arrived to take Tim to hospital.
Ossi said if wasn’t for the immediate response of those paramedics, her husband wouldn’t be alive.
“I just have to say they are absolutely amazing. It was just so fantastic to have them come and do that so quickly.”
Every fire truck in the city has the same medical equipment as an ambulance, and every ambulance has fire gear in case paramedics need to support fire crews.
Tim added it is because of Lethbridge’s integrated service that the paramedics, who are also firefighters, were able to respond to his call much sooner.
“Without that system, I understand how critical that is to my life,” he said. “The fact that I did recover completely…I can’t emphasize how important that service is.”
John Kesslar was one of the paramedic/firefighters on the fire truck that day. He had never had the chance to meet a patient that he saved – until now. This week he met Tim for the first time since the cardiac event.
“It’s quite enjoyable to actually see someone that we made such a huge difference in their life,” Kesslar said. “It’s something that I’m going to be able to remember.”
“I haven’t had an opportunity to meet anyone who we’ve had success where they’ve walked out of the hospital with minimal deficits.”
Tim and Ossi say they will always be grateful for the heroic efforts of Kesslar and the team of paramedics who gave Tim a second chance at life.
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