The importance of being there: Jake Springs, paramedic
Posted by Global Administrator on Wed, Jul 07, 2010 @ 09:57 AM
Jake Springs has collected a few souvenirs from his travels, but one he is particularly proud of is his 20-year visa to a certain country in Asia. The 20-year variety is afforded to only a limited number of people, usually with very good connections within the government.
On a recent visit to the region, Jake met a businessman with significant local influence, who organized the privilege after Jake described the sort of work that Global Rescue regularly performs in that part of the world.
“Later, I remember showing the visa to an employee at the British Airways counter and she called her friends over to take a look,” Jake recalled. “The woman said, ‘Wow, you must be someone pretty important.’ I told her that apparently somebody thinks I am.”
In his two years with Global Rescue, Jake has deployed to some of the most remote corners of the Earth to assist members in need, and the list of people who are now convinced of his importance grows with every deployment.
In May 2009, Jake was called on to help a member and his wife in East Africa after the member suffered a stroke. John and Sandy Searles were flown via medically equipped jet from Ethiopia to a highly qualified facility in Nairobi.
“The next day in walks this young man, and I knew right away it was an American,” Sandy Searles recalled. “He said, ‘I am Jacob Springs from Global Rescue. I’m a paramedic and I’m here for you and John 24/7. I will be your go-between, between the medical staff here, Global Rescue, Johns Hopkins and your physician in Flint, Michigan.’ I was in tears. I was so relieved to see that young man, and he did exactly that.”
In Sandy’s eyes, at least, Jake was not only important, he was indispensable.
“He was wonderful,” she continued. “Every night they had a four-way conference with all these people, Johns Hopkins, our doctors, keeping them informed, to find out what John and I could do, when could we get on a plane and come home? My children were allowed to contact Global Rescue and get reports on John every day. Global Rescue also relayed to us emails from our kids, pictures, letters. It was such a blessing. You kind of lost it the day they brought in all that.”
Jake started his career of helping others while living in Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked as a paramedic for the fire department.
A typical call at the firehouse involved a rolled-over truck carrying immigrants (travelers on Interstate 10 often neglect to check their tire pressure, and coupled with a heavy passenger load, a posted limit of 75 mph and extremely hot pavement, blowouts are common) or else a bite from a rattlesnake, or even a gila monster. The latter is a protected species and cannot legally be killed, making the rescue even trickier.
Family matters and a long tradition of firefighting on the East Coast brought him to the Boston area where he learned about Global Rescue.
Less than a year into the job, he found himself back in the desert – this time in the Gobi, supporting an expedition to view a solar eclipse in a remote corner of Mongolia. There he treated everything from mild allergies to an injured man thrown from his horse.
Since then, Jake has been sent to help members all over the world, most notably:
- To Calgary, to assist climbing legend Steve House after a nearly fatal 80-foot fall. “On my second morning in the critical care ward at Calgary’s Foothills Medical Center we called Global Rescue and that same night a Global Rescue paramedic arrived and immediately began helping us make sense of the complicated diagnosis of my extensive injuries,” House wrote afterward. “As my healing progressed, Global Rescue’s medic was already thinking ahead, working out the best way to get me home to Oregon… Global Rescue not only got me home as efficiently as possible, they repeatedly made the best decisions for me as a patient. For that I am forever grateful.”
- To Doha, to facilitate the treatment of a 37-year-old marathon runner who suffered a heart attack while teaching there. “My brother has shared with me how reassuring it was to have a Global Rescue paramedic with him during this time,” a family member wrote about Jake. “I can’t even think about how very different the whole outcome would have been had it not been for Global Rescue.”
- And two separate deployments to South Africa in the span of three weeks. On one of them, he assisted a member who suffered congestive heart failure and was taken to Johannesburg via medically equipped aircraft for urgent bypass surgery. The member relied on Jake, who was bedside throughout his complicated ordeal and ultimately successful treatment, until his arrival home in Texas, where he has since made a full recovery.
The missions are diverse in nature, and spread out all over the world, but they have one thing in common: a paramedic who gained the trust of the members through his commitment and unwavering resolve.
“We meet people in their darkest hour,” Jake said. “It is so rewarding to be able to rescue them and bring them home safely to their families.”