Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Patty Whitney gets a big hug from her husband, Alan, as AMR regional director Chris Stawasz looks on during the ceremony at which Patty Whitney thanked AMR and Nashua firefighters who teamed up to save her life recently.

NASHUA – On an otherwise uneventful day in April, Patty Whitney came very close to running out of tomorrows.

But thanks to her newfound heroes – a 911 operator, four Nashua firefighters and two AMR paramedics, not to mention her husband and son – the 56-year-old Nashua resident can now look forward to many tomorrows, which she recently began celebrating by meeting the first-responders in what turned out to be an emotional get-together at AMR’s Nashua headquarters.

The celebration took place, appropriately enough, in front of The Tomorrow Wall, a space dedicated to recognizing AMR providers who succeed in accomplishing perhaps the most coveted achievement in the world of emergency medicine: Bringing back to life patients who suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital.

The Tomorrow Wall project was created at the national level of AMR – American Medical Response – the Colorado-based ambulance service founded nearly 30 years ago to consolidate the fragmented ambulance industry.

The firm contracts with numerous cities and towns in the region, including Nashua and Manchester. AMR employs nearly 30,000 emergency medical professionals and support staff nationally, and has a fleet of some 6,600 ambulances plus specially-equipped air ambulances and transport vehicles.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS AMR paramedic Roger Chauvette helps Patty Whitney mount a certificate to The Tomorrow Wall, which AMR created in their Nashua headquarters to celebrate calls on which crews save patients who suffer full cardiac arrest. At left is Paramedic Luis Torres.

In Nashua, Whitney’s name and those of the crews who saved her are the first to be mounted on The Tomorrow Wall.

The get-together and ceremony, not surprisingly, brought forth plenty of emotion from all involved.

Whitney, whose husband, Alan, accompanied her to the event, began her brief comments by expressing “how thankful she was for what everyone had done,” according to Jeffrey Hastings, an independent reporter and photographer who covered the event.

She is especially grateful to the first-responders “for allowing her to continue being there” for her husband, her five children and nine grandchildren.

Paramedics Roger Chauvette and Luis Torres, on duty as AMR ALS 9 at the time of the call, were dispatched with Nashua Fire Rescue Engine 4 to Whitney’s residence in the city’s Country Club Estates neighborhood.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Nashua resident Patty Whitney, whose life was saved by the actions of Nashua firefighters and AMR personnel, along with her husband and son, writes a message on a certficate that AMR posted on The Tomorrow Wall, a space at its Nashua headquarters that pays tribute to lives saved.

The Engine 4 crew – Lt. Brian Maeder and firefighters John McAllister, Jacob Dodge and Kevin Morrissey – was first to arrive, and upon entering found Alan Whitney, assisted by his son, performing CPR on his wife while on the phone with 911.

NFR took over, continuing CPR and using their AED – automated external defibrillator – to try and shock her heart into rhythm. They were in the process of delivering a second shock when Chauvette and Torres arrived.

The two got emotional recalling how Alan Whitney was “cheering on” his wife at the point they were able to get a pulse. They checked her rhythm, administered the proper medications via IV lines, and worked to stablize her for transport to the hospital.

Emergency Department doctors reportedly treated Whitney for a blockage in her circumferential artery, and it wasn’t long before she was well on the road to recovery.

Chris Stawasz, AMR regional director for Nashua and Manchester, said it’s fairly rare for a person to survive after suffering cardiac arrest away from a hospital.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Patty Whitney and her husband Alan, standing in front, are joined by the Nashua firefighters and AMR paramedics who brought Patty back from full cardiac arrest and saved her life recently.

He credited all involved for their coordinated efforts for what turned out to be a successful outcome.

Chauvette said that “when you respond to 10-15 calls a day, you don’t always know what the outcome was for the people you worked on.”

But in this case, he emphasized “how great it was to have a moment with Patty” at the get-together and be able to “celebrate the life” the first-responders saved.

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Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS The names of the Nashua firefighters and AMR paramedics who saved the life of Patty Whitney recently are listed on a certificate that AMR posted on The Tomorrow Wall, a space in its Nashua headquarters that pays tribute to crews who successfully save the lives of patients in cardiac arrest.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS AMR regional director Chris Stawasz talks with Patty Whitney, whose life was saved by Nashua firefighters and an AMR crew when they successfully brought her back from full cardiac arrest recently.

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