Honorees

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Year Honored
1997
Honoree
Robert F Washington
Agency
Crown Ambulance Service
Agency City
Presque Isle
Agency State
ME
Last Call
1/27/96
Cause of Death
On-duty Cardiac
Biography
Robert Washington was a full-time paramedic with the Crown Ambulance Service for almost five years. He constantly had the highest call average of the service and was often assisting as "on-call paramedic" for community activities like health clinics and sporting events.<br /> <br /> January 27, 1996 found the 40-year-old Washington performing an emergency transfer of a critically ill patient to a medical care facility 160 miles away. The patient was on a vent, multiple IVs and was in severe pulmonary compromise. During the transport Robert Washington unexpectedly experienced a similar situation, suffered a heart attack and died soon after at a Houlton hospital.<br /> <br /> Crown Ambulance EMT Bob Washington would no longer be around to help 12-year old Jaime Owens when she called to get emergency assistance for her puppy trapped in a sleeper sofa. Nor would the many patients riding in Crown Ambulance transport be comforted by the warmth and laughter provided by Washington...as exemplified by an excerpt from a thank-you written by young Sheldon Oakes:<br /> <br /> "Thank you for being there when I needed you and making my ride not as scary with your funny jokes. I might have laughed more, but I was in pain all that year."<br /> EMT and paramedic, "Turtle Bob" Washington, left behind a wife, Nancy, and three sons, Trevor, Kyle and Cory, many loving family members and friends and a sorrowful community.<br /> <br /> Honored 1997