IN MEMORIAM: RN dead after firefighting accident...

igloorn93 · Jan 15, 2003

My dad is a firefighter and I worry everytime he goes on a call. One of my best friends is an EMT and a volunteer firefighter who wound up on lifesupport after a fire. My heart goes out to her family and friends, but may they find some measure of comfort in knowing that she died a hero, and in a sense was luckier than most who die, in that she died while doing something that she loved dearly.

JohnnyGage · Jan 15, 2003

This is always tragic. As a former firefighter and nurse it saddens me any time someone is lost in the line of duty. Her family will be in my prayers tonight. As an FYI: you can click here to read the Virtual Nurses Memorial, which is a running tribute to all nurses who have died while performing their duties.

NS_RN · Jan 15, 2003

How tragic. My heart goes out to her family. I was 7 yrs old when my mum (an RN) was killed in an accident. She got out to help and was struck and killed.

TheBrainMusher · Jan 15, 2003

My heart goes out to the family, I wonder how she fell off ... obviously this will be investigated. God bless ...

Sally_ICURN · Jan 15, 2003

And in death, this amazing RN/firefighter lives on through organ donation...the most profound and ultimate gift of giving.

"You may only be one person to the world but you may also be the world to one person."

(author unknown)

NMAguiar · Jan 16, 2003

And in death, this amazing RN/firefighter lives on through organ donation...the most profound and ultimate gift of giving

How true. A dedicated nurse who chose to continue saving lives -- even through her own death.

I haven't found anything that explained her role as RN/firefighter. Previously, weren't most fire department medics either EMTs or Paramedics? I found it interesting how Melinda Ohler's career progressed.

JohnnyGage · Jan 16, 2003

It's possible that she simply did both. Most professional fire departments have 24-hour shifts, so you only work about seven or eight days a month. She might have worked as a nurse on her off days.

Sally_ICURN · Jan 16, 2003

Originally posted by NMAguiar
I haven't found anything that explained her role as RN/firefighter. Previously, weren't most fire department medics either EMTs or Paramedics?

I haven't found/heard anything either, however in critical care ground transport (which is mostly AMR here) at least one of the transporters on the rig is a critical care RN. And before the fire departments here began training/staffing their firehouses with their own paramedic rigs, many AMR rigs used to be/still are housed at firehouses. So, and this is just a complete guess, if she was a critical care transport RN I'm sure she had a lot of exposure to the firefighting experience and inspired to become a firefighter, and became a firefighter/paramedic (with the additional education of EMT-P) at that firehouse in San Francisco. Not necessarily in the role of RN, but instead in the role of paramedic/firefighter. See here, several years ago (and this was very controversial at the time) the fire departments began striving to make every firefighter an EMT and every firehouse to have at least one paramedic and rig on premises so that the very expensive contracted work to AMR could be done away with.

I don't personally know any RN's who have become firefighters but I do know several RN's who work or have worked for AMR in critical care transport and flight nurses (critical care RN's) who work very closely with the fire departments.

~Sally

NMAguiar · Jan 16, 2003

Thanks Sally_ICURN!

The concept of an RN in a firestation intriqued me -- although it seemed a perfect fit for all involved.

Another reason to celebrate this special person's life. She must have been an amazing person who transversed barriers.

renerian, BSN, RN · Jan 16, 2003

God bless her spirit, friends and her family in their time of sorrow.

renerian:o