YPD officer to be honored for helping paramedics

By Joe Gorman

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Elmer Gonzalez knows how to multitask.

A city native and police officer for eight months, Gonzalez is set to earn a departmental commendation after he helped paramedics revive a man who was not breathing earlier this month.

Gonzalez said he has no medical training other than what he learned during his police training, but he does have two hands, which is what paramedics needed Oct. 7 when they were tending to a man on East Midlothian Boulevard on the South Side who was unconscious and not breathing.

Paramedics were starting to “bag” the man, or operate a device where someone squeezes a bag attached to a tube in the patient’s mouth to help him breathe. But suddenly the man’s condition worsened and the paramedics had to use other equipment and thus no one had a free hand to bag the man.

Gonzalez, one of several officers to respond to the call, volunteered right away when the paramedics asked if someone could help them.

He jumped into the ambulance and began squeezing the bag. There was no thought to anything he did, Gonzalez said. He said once he knew he was needed, he just jumped in.

“I just went,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said the entire episode probably lasted about a minute, but he just concentrated on making sure he was working the bag so the man’s breathing could resume.

“As I was pumping the bag, slowly but surely he was breathing on his own,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said while some may thinking squeezing a plastic bag is easy, he said he had to concentrate given the gravity of the situation and focus on what he had to do.

“The task at hand was to bring this guy back to life,” Gonzalez said.

The man began breathing, and the paramedics told Gonzalez he could stop operating the bag. The patient was in much better shape when the ambulance took him to a local hospital.

One of the paramedics who responded to that call left a message on the department’s Facebook page commending Gonzalez, saying he felt Gonzalez needed to be recognized for his actions.

“It is because of Officer Gonzalez and his willingness to quickly assist EMS that the patient made it to the hospital in a noncritical manner,” the paramedic wrote.

Supervisors agreed. Gonzalez is due for a commendation that will be awarded at the department’s awards ceremony next spring.

Lt. Brian Walsh, Gonzalez’s supervisor, said the incident shows the day-to-day realities of police work, when officers have to be prepared to do anything at a moment’s notice. He said that shows the type of training and dedication of officers who are joining the department.

“It shows the caliber of the guys we have working on patrol,” Walsh said.