Chief Lineberry shares an experience shared by some of the other team members:
“We were at Base-7 (PTAR’s Headquarters Station in High Point), and I was involved,” she said. “I’ve been here for 23 years, and I’ve only ever had one other patient that I knew survived and went back home to lead a productive life. We were at Base-7, reviewing protocol test results one day. There were no ambulances in the house – that’s usually how it happens,” she said, noting that all other PTAR personnel were out on calls for service at the time.
She said, “Myself and (Guilford County Paramedic) Susie Chilton were at the Base, and someone came up and said there’s someone laying on the side of the road. Well, you know, in that neighborhood you kinda don’t really get excited about that, because lots of people lay on the side of the road down there in Base-7 territory. But on this particular day we went out and we did find a gentleman that was laying on the side of the road, and he had ‘coded’, and I guess he could not have coded in a better location.”
Chief Lineberry said, “So myself, (PTAR Field Supervisor) Patsy Hege and Susie Chilton, we arrived and did CPR. Then one of our ambulances from Greensboro was making a transport into High Point Regional Hospital and was on the way back to the highway to head back to Greensboro, and they heard the call, and – thank goodness – because they actually had an ambulance with them. That was EMT Wendy Fitzgibbon and EMT Lisa Bowman.”
She added, “I went to the hospital on two different occasions and spoke with the gentleman. He was very grateful.” She also said that she would wear her ‘CPR Save’ lapel pin “with pride.”
Chief Paula Lineberry joined PTAR on October 12, 1988. Patsy Hege is a Field Supervisor, who joined PTAR on February 29, 1996. EMT Wendy Fitzgibbon joined PTAR on September 04, 2007 and EMT Lisa Bowman joined PTAR on November 13, 2006.