At the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy Fame EMS conducts what is known as rehab at which they perform vital monitoring as well as hydration for firefighters returning from calls.

At a training session, Megotz returned from a burn and went to the rehab center for the customary check at which it was determined his heart rate was 180. Paramedic Tammy Long informed him that he was in Atrial fibrillation and was suffering from cardiac arrhythmia.

The paramedic crew, consisting of Long, Kaden Yetter, and Shawn Peters decided to transport the young career firefighter to the hospital where a serious, underlying heart condition was diagnosed.

Long shared that Megotz had come in for the routine check, asymptomatic, and the crew was able to detect and treat the issue, saving his life.

Sentinel photo by SAM BAUMGARDNER
Pennsylvania State Fire Academy Deputy Administrator Anson Bloom presents a life saver commendation to Fame EMS Paramedic Tammy Long Thursday afternoon during Fame EMS’s open house in Lewistown. Long and her partner EMT Kade Yetter are credited with saving the life of Scranton Firefighter EMT DJ Megotz earlier this year at the academy on Riverside Drive in Lewistown during the academy’s Truck Academy Class.

Bottom line is we were doing our jobs, just what we were supposed to be doing,” shared Yetter. Long added, “We just went a little further than other people might have.”

“Without (them), because I was feeling perfectly fine, I never would have known I was in Afib and it would have caused more and worse problems,” Long said.

Due to the exceptional work put forth by the Fame crew, the State Fire Academy and the fire commissioners office came together Thursday afternoon to present an award to Fame EMS as an entirety as well as the three individual crew members that played a key role in saving the academy student.

During the presentation of the awards, speakers noted the importance of medical surveillance with the rehab.

Former Fire Commissioner Ed Mann shared that “it has been 30 years since Fame EMS started their rehab and 25 years since they approached the fire academy about doing medical surveillance with rehab.

“In those days, Pennsylvania led the nation, year after year in line of duty deaths, so when I was approached as the fire commissioner about doing medical surveillance and rehab, the answer was easy…yeah, we’re gonna do it,” shared Mann.

Current Fire Commissioner Harvey Boyer added that at the Fire Academy it is their job to worry about the entire state on a smaller scale and he was made aware of the importance of having rehab available to the firefighters.

“I can’t stress enough how important that was that day, and how appreciative I am of the relationship that the Fire Academy has with Fame,” shared Boyer.

Boyer also commented on the importance of having rehab and health checks available on scene, at real incidents, for first responders that may experience health issues after responding to a call.

Deputy Director of the Fire Academy Anson Bloom presented the award to Fame EMS Station 12 as a whole stating that this situation was “not the first time” Fame EMS has made a critical find, and that they have “saved countless lives at the training academy.”

Each of the three crew members involved in the rapid intervention that saved Megotz’s life received an award that stated, that due to the “vigilance and professionalism” of the crew their actions “directly contributed to saving (Megotz) life and facilitate(d) his eventual return to duty as a career firefighter.”

“Whether you know it or not, because of what they started here, a lot of other ambulance services not only in Pennsylvania, but also in the eastern-seaboard picked up on what they were doing,” shared Mann.

The Deputy Chief at Fame, Eric Howell, added that they take a lot of pride in what they do, in their people, and in their rehab program.

In addition to honoring the paramedic crew, Thursday afternoon Fame EMS hosted an open house in honor of EMS appreciation week, with the hopes of drawing more people into their department.

The goal of the open house was to bring public interest to the Fame EMS department, to bring people in to see what happens at an EMS station and to spark interest as there is currently a national shortage of paramedics.

“The hope of this is to get people interested…young, old, middle aged, whoever- this isn’t an age respective business,” shared Howell. “This is a life or death business and we take a lot of pride in what we do, but we just need people,”

The event included ambulance tours, station tours, and demonstrations of the automatic CPR machine.