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During the height of Winter Storm Stella on Tuesday, one local emergency crew had some help from neighbors.
Dave Prohaska, public relations officer for Trans-Med Ambulance, said the company received a call on Ketchum Street in Wilkes-Barre Township. When the the first crew arrived, they found Ketchum Street, a side road for the township, in bad condition.
“We couldn’t get down the street,” Prohaska said.
As is protocol for winter storms, the company had “an all hands on deck” policy and another ambulance crew was on the way. The team also had one extra person on each vehicle.
“Everyone knew the woman,” Mark Henn said. Henn, who was part of the initial Trans-Med crew, said the township had no way of getting the plows to Ketchum Street fast enough.
And that’s when the neighbors pitched in.
The ambulance crew was parked on Charles Street, a main road, which Henn said was cleared. A group of teenage boys pitched in to clean the steps and porch of the home, a man shoveled the sidewalk and another took a snow blower to the streets while someone followed behind him with a shovel to keep the pathway clear.
“They just did it,” Henn said, noting nobody had asked them for help. “Everyone worked together.”
Once the teams were inside the house, Henn said it took them 15 minutes to get the patient to the hospital.
“It went really smoothly,” Henn said.
Both Prohaska and Henn have been on ambulance teams for over 30 years and significant snowfalls remind them of the “good in people.”
If need of an ambulance assistance during snowfalls, Henn asks residents, if possible, to have a pathway for workers to get in.
“Try to clean the steps and sidewalks,” Henn reminded.