NASHUA – Getting recognized for a job well done is always a rewarding experience.

It feels even better when your job is saving lives.

Four Nashua paramedics and eight members of Nashua Fire Rescue were honored for their responses to two emergency calls during which they saved someone’s life.

On one call in October and another in November, men in cardiac arrest were successfully revived, a rare outcome during such calls.

American Medical Response paramedics Candace Tunberg and Robert Basha were among the team that saved a young man’s life on Oct. 20.

Amid a 24-hour shift, Tunberg and Basha woke up at about 4 a.m. and rushed into the city to help Nashua Fire Rescue with a cardiac arrest call.

Along with four Nashua firefighters – Lt. Darren Desjadon, Roger Hall, James Lamb and Adam Pouliot – the emergency personnel performed CPR, delivered electric shocks to the man’s heart and issued medication to help save his life.

“We couldn’t do it without them, and they couldn’t do it without us,” said Christopher Stawasz, operations manager at AMR in Greater Nashua. “It really works as a community health system.”

The man walked away from the hospital Nov. 11 and is expected to make a full recovery.

The same is true for a 52-year-old man who suffered a heart attack Nov. 1 in Nashua. He was saved by AMR paramedics Roy Jack and Luis Torres, along with Nashua Fire Rescue Capt. Alan Borneman and firefighters Ronald Sage, Michael Johansson and Andrew Martineau.

The outcomes are rare and extraordinary, Stawasz said.

Only about 5 percent of people across the country recover fully from those circumstances, he said, and while a larger percentage are eventually revived, they often live with deteriorating health.

“On a call like that, there are more things that can go wrong than things that can go right,” Stawasz said.

Sage, a 28-year veteran of rescue services, said he could think of maybe four times he saw people make a full recovery after such a rescue.

“There’s a lot of things that have to be in place,” Sage said. “Everything was right. We do a lot of that type of call. It’s definitely not the norm to get someone back breathing and normal.”

Sage and Borneman said several years ago, before ambulances were equipped with portable defibrillation machines, the rescues would have been impossible. Quick action by the families is also vital.

“I think a lot of it falls on the families,” Borneman said. “The wife made that quick call. Everything fell into place.”

Basha, 42, of Concord, has worked as an EMT for 24 years. Her said he has handled just three cases of cardiac arrest in which the patient made a full recovery.

Tunberg, 36, of Derry, said she didn’t think the 25-year-old man would survive after she and Basha transported him to St. Joseph Hospital.

“It’s pretty rare that they survive,” Tunberg said. “We’re not able to save many of them, but it’s really nice when you can. I really think it just wasn’t his time.”

On Oct. 20, firefighters responded to the home at 14 Portchester Drive in six minutes and worked from 3:34-4:08 a.m.

Tunberg said the call presented many challenges, including a cramped, dark space and a shouting father who refused to leave the room. When the rescue personnel finally took the man away and into the ambulance, there were about four or five family members watching in the living room, she said.

“It can be a lot to deal with,” Tunberg said. “It’s always chaotic, but you do so much training that it just comes to you. You do so many scenarios that it comes naturally.”

On Nov. 1, Nashua firefighters responded in seven minutes to the 52-year-old man’s home at 747 W. Hollis St. He was treated on scene and immediately given a stent at the hospital to improve blood flow. Despite some short-term memory loss, he’s also expected to make a full recovery.

The rescuers were officially commended and recognized for their actions in a brief ceremony Thursday at the AMR building on West Hollis Street. Each AMR medic and Nashua firefighter received a pin to wear on his or her uniform to honor their performance.

They said they thought of the rescue as just a normal part of their duties. They can’t get too high after saves or too low after losing someone.

“I look at it as another day at the office and there was a really good outcome,” Borneman said.

“It’s a good feeling to hear the guy’s alive and doing well,” Sage said. “It’s a good feeling. (But) it’s not about pins.”

Neither of the men’s names was released because of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Cameron Kittle can be reached at 594-6523 or ckittle@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Kittle on Twitter (@Telegraph_CamK). Joseph G. Cote can be reached at 594-6415 or jcote@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Cote on Twitter (@Telegraph_JoeC).