News

Off-Duty Texas Paramedics Help Boy, Runner in Distress

Nicole Chavez

11/04/2015

Nov. 04--Two off-the-job Austin paramedics helped people going into cardiac arrest last week, Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services officials said.

Medic Chance Bergstrom, was at the Party City store parking lot near Brodie Lane and Lovegrass Lane in Sunset Valley, when he saw a woman screaming for help next to a boy who was lying down face down on the pavement.

Bergstrom, a 2-year veteran with EMS, jumped out of his car and performed CPR on the 14-year-old boy who was under cardiac arrest, officials said.

The medic continued CPR until officers with the Sunset Valley Police arrived with an automated external defibrillator and the boy's pulse returned, officials said.

The boy was taken to Dell Children's Medical Center where he's continuing his recovery, officials said.

On Sunday, Capt. Mark Hawkins was about to go home after his shift when he helped a runner in distress.

After hearing voices just outside the EMS station at 2307-A Foster Avenue in West Austin, he walked out and saw a man about 50 yards away on the ground.

The 50-year-old man had been running the Run for the Water race when he collapsed as he was going into cardiac arrest, officials said.

Hawkins, a 19-year veteran with EMS, along with a bystander and an off-duty firefighter performed CPR for several minutes before firefighters arrived with an automated external defibrillator.

The man regained consciousness after one shock and was taken to a local hospital, EMS said.

In the past months, two other off-duty medics rescued children in distress. Medics helped a 15-year-old boy who went into cardiac arrest while at a pool and an another boy who was submerged in a New Braunfels river.