By Christopher Gillett
Star Beacon
JEFFERSON, Ohio — Emergency medical staff from Jefferson, Geneva and Ashtabula drove ambulances across the southeast United States providing relief for hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency contracted Jefferson Emergency Medical District, Northwest Ambulance District in Geneva and Ashtabula Community Care Center for crew members through American Medical Response.
Their work focused on evacuating older people to nursing homes or patients to hospitals.
Jefferson EMS worker Joe Edison said it was meaningful to do assistance.
“They were very grateful for us coming down and helping out,” he said.
Joe Marich, with Northwest Ambulance District, said evacuating people felt different than responding to 911.
“The rain was coming down,” he said. “We just had to move quick. That was the biggest thing. It was just load and go and get them out.”
Jon McManus, another Jefferson worker, said the furthest he took a patient was 389 miles.
“We picked a patient up and then we had to take them,” he said. “Based on what the patient’s needs were, the closest facility was in Goldsboro, North Carolina. So, it was a 750-mile round-trip transfer.”
McMannes said they worked with crews from 720 ground ambulances, coming from as far as Alabama , Missouri and New York City .
“After spending 17 days with those guys and girls, I would consider them to be forever friends,” he said. “They were just a great group of people, and we bonded and gelled really well together.”
Jefferson EMS traveled to Greenville, South Carolina; Asheville, North Carolina and Tallahassee, Florida.
NAD worked in Asheville and across Florida, including Tampa and Ft. Myers.
Ashtabula Care Community Center crew members could not be reached for comment.
The medical workers often slept in their ambulances.
McMannes said Helene passed over him, and knocked a tree down onto the ambulance his first night.
“We woke up to just crazy winds,” he said. “We felt like we were on a cruise ship. We were just rocking back and forth in the back of the ambulance, and then that tree came down.”
Marich said he saw Helene’s devastation in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
“There were cars on houses,” he said. “That was actually really bad.”
Marich said he saw Milton’s damage in Florida.
“They evacuated us before the hurricane hit,” he said. “When we went back down there, [we saw] a lot of wind damage. A lot of billboards were destroyed.”
Marich said he saw the roofless Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium.
Each EMS crew’s deployment lasted at least two weeks.
McMannes said his family greeted him with a welcome home sign.
“I probably sat in the shower for half an hour at least,” he said. “It was so nice to have running water. I have two young girls, 9 and 6, and they were over the moon excited to see me.”
Marich said he was exhausted when he got home.
“The first night or two was weird sleeping in a bed,” he said.
Edison said he felt tired after getting home.
McMannes said the deployment was an interesting experience.
“There were a lot of things that made it kind of an adventure,” he said.
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