“Thankful Is Not The Word”

On September 25, a life-saving team came together for a special reunion at the Anne Arundel County Fire Department headquarters in Millersville. Fire Communications Operator Victoria Gowland and members of the Engine 12 and Medic 5 crews gathered to meet someone who played a crucial role during an emergency one day this past August: 12-year-old Shipley’s Choice resident Ethan Patty.

Ethan had been watching television in the basement around 2:00pm on August 16 when he heard a sudden thud from upstairs. He and his grandmother were the only people home at the time — his brother was lifeguarding, and his mother had flown to Florida to help his father drive their dogs home from a family trip to Disney World.

When Ethan went upstairs to see what the noise had been, he discovered that his grandmother had fallen, her head on a basket. He tried to shake her awake, and when she was unresponsive, he called 911 on his Apple Watch.

On the other side of the line, Gowland told Ethan to see if his grandmother was breathing. Then she had him start doing chest compressions, which Ethan kept up for the entire 10 minutes it took for help to arrive.

“I was impressed,” Gowland told Ethan when they met in person. “I hung up the phone and was like, ‘Wow, that was…’ I mean, it’s tough. We give those instructions every day, but it’s a hard situation to be in. Especially for someone saving.”

Ethan was sent outside so that he wouldn’t have to watch once help had arrived from the fire department and professionals had taken over helping his grandmother. One member of the crew stood outside with him and helped him call his mom to explain what happened.

“It was kind of comforting because they were so supportive of me,” Ethan said. “They were doing everything that they could to help me feel better about it.”

Ethan had dinner with a neighbor, and a friend of his mother picked up his brother and stayed with them for the night. His parents were in Georgia, and they drove straight through the rest of their trip, arriving home in the middle of the night.

Ethan’s mother and brother were both CPR certified due to lifeguard training, but he had never learned how to do it. His Boy Scouts training had only taught him to call 911. But his chest compressions kept his grandmother alive long enough for help to arrive. Four weeks after having the heart attack, Ethan’s grandmother is in rehab with an implanted defibrillator.

“Every doctor and nurse that has read it and has seen what he was able to do with (Gowland’s) help … We know she would not have made it otherwise,” said Ethan’s mother, April Patty. “Thankful is not the word.”

Ethan, a Severna Park Middle School student, hopes to work in the musical theater industry someday. He plays for Liverpool Soccer, and he’s involved with the varsity choir and the dance team at school. Though his dreams for the future don’t involve any of the jobs people do at the fire department, he enjoyed learning more about the behind-the-scenes operations when he went to meet everyone and say thank you.

“I was really excited about seeing how everything works. I’ve only seen a 911 office in the show ‘9-1-1,’” Ethan said.

Gowland presented him with a challenge coin, and he also received a fire department patch. After reuniting with Gowland and the crews of Engine 12 and Medic 5, Ethan joined Gowland for a trip to the dispatch center, where she showed him what she does, including how to keep track of which units have been dispatched. While there, Ethan explored the types of fire apparatus, getting to experience what it’s like inside as well as all of the tools and equipment that are used in different situations.

The reunion wasn’t just special for Ethan. “In the dispatch center, we don’t often get to have closure and meet the families,” Gowland said.