Last Friday morning paramedic Joseph Hardman was giving CPR to a man having a heart attack when the 40-year-old suffered his own heart attack inside the EMS unit.
In spite of the obvious risk to his own health, Hardman and his partner decided to make sure that the patient was dropped off at the Cardiac Care unit before getting care for himself. Union representative Joe Barney said Hardman:
“…dropped his patient off alive while he was having a heart attack, then went to the ER, where they treated him immediately. He survived, and he’s in fact laying three beds over from the guy he brought into the hospital.”
When Joseph spoke with ABC 7 Action News he acknowledged that having been in the ambulance at the time of his own heart attack saved his life. “If I hadn’t been in the position I was in, I would have been deceased.”
The aptly named Hardman has been working the streets of Detroit for 18 years and had no prior known heart conditions before he experienced blockage in the artery called the “widow maker.” He is said to be doing better and could return to work after a couple of months of therapy.
His patient, who wished to remain anonymous, is also said to be recovering well.
Screengrab / WXYZ
