HENDERSON, KY, November 15, 2019– It was a warm, sunshiny (and calm) Sunday in mid-November when staff members of the Henderson Fire Department – some on duty and some in “street clothes” – gathered at downtown Station One in anticipation of a visitor due to stop by at any minute.
The engine bay doors were up and they stood very near an apparatus that played a big role in why they were getting this visit, watching for their guests to arrive.
And a few minutes later Jeremy and Charlotte Todd and a couple of family members paid a call.
When HFD crew members last saw Jeremy Todd, they were rescuing him from a two-story crane on a work platform at Mulzer Crushed Stone located on the edge of the Ohio River near the Henderson Riverport.
Todd, a crane operator, remembers that he wasn’t feeling well on the morning of Oct. 2, 2019. It apparently showed in his work because co-workers noticed that one of the company’s best operators started missing his mark, and would stop working entirely for several minutes at a time.
It didn’t take long to suspect that something was wrong with Todd. Co-workers were dispatched to the cab to check on him and discovered that he was in distress. Symptons indicated he was having a stroke.
There was more bad news: It was going to be tricky getting the 6-foot-tall man off the crane. He couldn’t be taken down the crane’s ladder on a spine board.
EMS arrived and started administering care. County emergency responders requested aid from the Henderson Fire Department, which responded with the 107-foot aerial truck, the rescue truck (their “tool box”) and other units.
The HFD team led by Assistant Chief Jeremy Baxter started setting up for a rope rescue that would lower Todd over the side of the crane, but there was still the issue of transferring him to land to a medical evacuation helicopter.
Meanwhile, the aerial truck’s Engineer Billy Schwartz reported that he felt like he could reach him with the ladder on the aerial truck, so HFD put redundancy in place and set up two rescue scenarios at the same time.
It was basically, “ready, set, go” to see which rescue technique reached him first.
Ultimately the ladder won and they were able to pick up Todd with it, and lower the unconscious man to the waiting chopper.
Only 25 minutes had elapsed from the time HFD took the call and to handing him off for transport.
City Manager Buzzy Newman commended the HFD for their quick response time and successful rescue at the Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 12.
“There are good days and bad days, but it’s a great day when you see one walk back in the door,” he said, referencing Todd’s Sunday visit to the fire station.
“Because of you all, I still have him,” Charlotte Todd told the HFD crew in one of the text messages she sent in the weeks to follow providing updates. “(The surgeon) said it was fast response that kept him stable and alive. One wrong move and that could have been it for Jeremy.”
Todd has now been released from the hospital and continues to do out-patient rehabilitation. His caregivers have been impressed with his progress over the past six weeks, Charlotte Todd said.
The Sunday visit was a time to celebrate. The family brought some treats and sweatshirts to the firefighters, they took a tour of Station One and lots of photos were made.
It also offered some closure for a situation that was stressful for everyone.
“We rarely get to hear any follow up information after calls like this and are often left just wondering how the patient is doing,” Schwartz said.
It was clear at that visit that Todd, a volunteer firefighter himself, was doing much better than he was on the morning of Oct. 2.
“It’s emotional,” he said with a catch in his voice. “It is when you wrap your head around it. It’s easy to tell yourself it wasn’t your time to go when you’re still standing here. But, man.”
3480: Photo made by Henderson Fire Department during Oct. 2 rescue.
3471: Jeremy Todd is pictured with the aerial truck and rescue crew on Nov. 10 at Henderson Fire Station One.
*photos furnished by the Henderson City Fire Department.