Detroit EMT Suffers Heart Attack On The Job
DETROIT (WWJ) - If you started having a heart attack at work, you'd probably drop everything to get medical care. But, for Detroit EMT Joseph Hardman — that wasn't an option.
Hardman and his partner were in the middle of treating and transporting a patient who was having a serious heart attack when Hardman began experiencing symptoms of his own.
"I didn't need a machine to tell me that I was having a heart attack," said Hardman. "Because all of the symptoms that present with a heart attack — I was pretty much having them all."
Despite his own distress, the 40-year-old EMT finished caring for his patient. Hardman warned his partner, who was driving, that there'd be two patients instead of one once they arrived at DMC Harper University Hospital.
Harmon didn't quit until he was sure his patient was all squared away, and doctors began working on him right across the hall from the man he'd helped to save.
"That's why we do what we do — because that's what we live for," Hardman said. "That's what EMS is: to go from a state of death or near death to watching the person walk out of the hospital with their family several days later."
WWJ Health Reporter Sean Lee reports that both Hardman and his patient are expected to be OK.
Hardman was expected to be released sometime Monday.
