An Akron firefighter/paramedic is being hailed as a hero for her quick thinking and action, saving the day when her partner, who was driving their ambulance, had a medical emergency.
It happened around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 13 when Terra White, a veteran firefighter of 18 years, and her partner were heading back to the station after completing a call having dropped a patient off at a Summa Akron City Hospital.
"I never would have thought when I came to work that day that I would have to do something like that," White said.
It was White's first night with her new partner in the ambulance. As they were driving down Arch Street, White noticed the ambulance veering, and her partner, who was behind the wheel, having had a medical emergency. He went unconscious.
"I looked over and saw my partner was kind of slumped over," she said.
Her partner's foot hit the accelerator, and the out-of-control ambulance hit two poles, knocking down wires. She reached around the computer system and grabbed the steering wheel.
"I was trying to reach over and steer from the passenger seat and trying to climb over all these things that are here," White said. "I think I'm the only person that's small enough that works here that's small enough to climb over through that."
She doesn't remember exactly how it happened, but she was somehow able to shimmy her way over to the driver's side and hit the brakes.
"And was able to put my foot down and move his foot off the accelerator and put my foot down onto the brake," she said.
Skid marks now show the path the ambulance took as it slowed onto a vacant grassy lot. White stopped the ambulance just a few feet from an embankment with a 50-foot drop— a drop that would have certainly proved fatal if the ambulance had gone over, White believes.
Akron Firefighters Association Local 330 President Kevin Gostkowski said White's instincts were truly amazing.
"For her to be able to climb over into the driver's seat and wrestle that med unit down and get it stopped before they went over that drop was pretty impressive," he said.
Akron Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Clarence Tucker and Akron Fire Chief Joseph Natko later awarded White with the Distinguished Service Award, a first for the fire department.
"I'm not a hero; I was just trying to save my life and his," White said.
