A Reason to Hope
June 5, 2019
Paramedic David Ottinger calms a patient's fears after a devastating hurricane.
David Ottinger, a paramedic in Nashville, Tennessee, shares why he finds passion in his work for American Medical Response with a story from his work following Hurricane Michael:
"I love deployment. This woman was told two minutes before we showed up that she was being relocated further from home. She was upset, crying and scared. She has no family. Talk about getting in my feelers. I don't get soft much but she made it come out and someone caught me. I sat down to talk to her and calm her down. After a while, she was okay.
She was relocated to the facility that I went to next and smiled ear-to-ear when she saw me. The next day she got news she was being relocated even further from home. I spoke with her again and told her I would be there when she got there. She smiled, hugged me (again) and I'm looking forward to seeing her smile when she gets where I'm going next.
When I saw her a couple days later I asked her if it was OK to share this picture and story, she smiled (again) and said, 'well yes, of course!'"
"I love deployment. This woman was told two minutes before we showed up that she was being relocated further from home. She was upset, crying and scared. She has no family. Talk about getting in my feelers. I don't get soft much but she made it come out and someone caught me. I sat down to talk to her and calm her down. After a while, she was okay.
She was relocated to the facility that I went to next and smiled ear-to-ear when she saw me. The next day she got news she was being relocated even further from home. I spoke with her again and told her I would be there when she got there. She smiled, hugged me (again) and I'm looking forward to seeing her smile when she gets where I'm going next.
When I saw her a couple days later I asked her if it was OK to share this picture and story, she smiled (again) and said, 'well yes, of course!'"
