The city of Elkhart is recognizing firefighters for saving the life of a shooting victim, and a girl for helping her father during a heart attack.
Firefighters may have seen some of the best and the worst from residents in the two cases.
First, the best. In January, Chris Bridegroom was suffering cardiac arrest at his home. His 9-year-old daughter, Magnolia, who goes by Madi, stepped in to help her mom give him hands-only CPR that she learned at school. He was rushed to the hospital and recovered.
Then in April, the fire department’s blood-in-the-field program was put to the test. The Medic 7 crew performed life-saving aid to a 30-year-old female shooting victim. In that incident, firefighters tried to save 38-year-old gunshot victim Kaylon Rashaad Woods but he died at the scene. In another location, prosecutors said the suspect in the shooting, 41-year-old Adonis Latroy Joseph, was found dead in a working house fire, with a gunshot to the head, in the 28000 block of Golden Pond Trail.
But medics managed to help save the woman’s life by giving her a blood transfusion on the way to the hospital. Madi and the Medic 7 crew were recognized at Monday night’s common council meeting.
