Realtor reunites with ambulance crew who restarted his heart

Story and photo by James Stevenson

CALGARY — City real estate agent Gary Williamson can easily recall that he was due to volunteer at a weekend casino last September. The next thing he remembers, however, is waking up days later in intensive care at Foothills Medical Centre.

Slowly piecing the events together over the past few months, Williamson learned that while volunteering he collapsed — stricken by a heart attack that led to cardiac arrest. Thankfully, a fellow volunteer immediately dialled 9-1-1 — a call that swiftly brought Emergency Medical Services (EMS) aid to the scene.

The EMS crew — EMT Bob Sornberger and paramedic Tim A. Ford — managed to get Williamson’s heart beating again before he even arrived at hospital.

Recently, Williamson and his family took advantage of an opportunity to meet with Sornberger and Ford under better circumstances, in front of the very ambulance in which they saved his life.

“It’s pretty huge,” says Williamson. “It’s important for me to be able to say ‘thanks.’”

With a combined 37 years of experience between them, Sornberger and Ford have partnered for the past seven years while busy saving more than a few lives and caring for hundreds of patients.

“We’ve had our share of successful codes — where the heart stops — where we deliver the patient to hospital with the heart beating again,” says Ford.

“But usually, after we deliver the patient we’re done and off to the next case without finding how they did. It sometimes feels a little unfinished.”

Adds Sornberger: “It’s always nice to have a good outcome to whatever we do on the job. And it means a lot to be able to sit here now and share some laughs with Gary.”

Williamson also heaped high praise on the staff at Foothills hospital.

“I shall always be grateful that this happened to me in Calgary. They were fantastic at the Foothills — not only did they save my life, but the after-care and testing is amazing.”

Within two weeks of his cardiac arrest, Williamson was out of hospital and back to doing what he loves — selling homes. “I had stuff to do.