Narrative

The California Ambulance Association (CAA) held it's 4th Annual Stars of Life event at the Embassy Suites Hotel  in Sacramento, CA., March 3-7, 2008. The CAA's Star of Life celebration is a state program that honors dedicated ambulance service professionals from around the state. The recipients of the "Star of Life" distinction are EMT's, medics, dispatchers, or other exceptional EMS personnel that have been nominated and are being recognized for service above and beyond the call of duty, years of service, on-duty heroism, or are employee of the year for their company.

The event featured a banquet and award presentation ceremony to honor the "Stars", a tour of Capital building, and opportunities to meet with their local state assembly and state senate representatives.

On October 22, 2008, EMT Brian Bement, EMT Andrew Graziani and 18 other EMT's from Care Ambulance Service were activated to respond to the San Diego Wildfires as part of 8 Ambulance Strike Teams that deployed from Orange County.  Brian and Andrew were selected to receive the Star of Life Award as representatives of all the personnel from Care Ambulance that participated in the week long deployment.

Brian has been an EMT for 2 years and in addition to working at Care Ambulance, he works as a firefighter for the City of La Habra. He is married and enjoys spending his off time with his family and friends..

Andrew has been an EMT for Care Ambulance for the past 2 years.  Andrew is working to pursue a career in the fire service. On his time off he likes to work on restoring cars. 

On December 13, 2008, EMT Zach Edwards and his partner, Bill Duffy, responded to a medical aid in the Maywood area of Los Angeles County. Upon arrival they found the patient complaining of an unusual pain in her chest. They helped convince her to go get checked out at the hospital and upon loading the patient, they saw the patient go into V-Fib and subsequently go into full arrest. The patient was worked throughout the transport to the hospital where additional time was spent on resuscitation efforts.  When they left the hospital the patient was still being resuscitated with little hope of survival. Zach and Bill subsequently recieved a letter from the patient's daughter thanking them for helping to save her mom's life. Within weeks of the incident the patient had made a full recovery and was back at work. The patient's daughter, Arnell Henry, made the trip to Sacramento as well to thank Zach and Bill personally.

Zach is a junior at Loma Linda University and plans to eventually enroll in a PA Program.  He has been working as an EMT for 16 months. Bill, a navy veteran, has been an EMT for about 13 months and has a degree in Geology.

In addition to the awards ceremony and other activities, we were able to meet with several of our State representatives including Assemblyman Mike Duvall, Assemblyman Jim Silva, Assemblyman Jose Solorio, Senator Alan Lowenthal, Senator Lou Correa, Assemblywoman Betty Karnette, and Assemblyman Tony Mendoza.

Assemblyman Mendoza was kind enough to take extra time out of his busy schedule and give us a personal tour of the Assembly Chamber, and member areas. It was a lot of fun and appreciated by all. 

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