04/30/2026
This morning was one of those mornings we won’t soon forget!
Today, members of the Danville Life Saving Crew had the extraordinary privilege of meeting Alicia, Rector of Epiphany Episcopal Church, whose life was saved after a cardiac emergency last year.
Paramedic Jackie McAlister, Deputy Chief of Operations Bryan Fox, and Battalion Chief Tommy Barber were there for a moment that was emotional, joyful, humbling, and deeply meaningful for everyone in the room.
Our crews show up on people’s worst days. They bring their training, their equipment, their calm, their compassion, and everything they have to the moment in front of them.
But they don’t always get to know the ending.
They don’t always get to see the person later — smiling, talking, healing, living. Today, they did.
For Jackie, this call was especially meaningful. It was her first cardiac arrest as the person in charge of the call — and it has stayed with her ever since.
For Tommy, who has served in EMS for 36 years, today was something he said he had never experienced before: the chance to stand face-to-face with someone who survived a call like this and hear the story of how the Crew made the biggest difference in someone's literal life or death moment.
Alicia said words that left us with goosebumps: "Because the Crew showed up, I got a second chance at life."
That is why we train. That is why we prepare, why every piece of equipment matters. That is why response time matters. That is why community support matters.
And that is why today meant so much. We don't do any of this for the accolades, but when we can really celebrate with someone on a day like this, it means the world to us.
We’ll be sharing more of this incredible story soon, but for today, we just want to celebrate a beautiful, life-filled morning, a powerful reunion, and the reminder that what our Crew does every single day truly matters.
