Tribute to Brown County first responders

This story is part six of the “Tribute to Brown County first responders” series by Wade Linville (editor of The News Democrat, The Ripley Bee, and The Brown County Press).

It was 40 years ago in 1983 when Patty Hubbard joined Fayetteville Fire/EMS as a volunteer, serving as a paramedic for around 25 of those years. She joined shortly after her husband, Patrick Hubbard, became a volunteer for Fayetteville Fire/EMS Department. She would serve as an EMT before becoming one of the early paramedic first responders in Brown County.

“I was always interested in the medical field, and I wanted to do it to help people,” Patty Hubbard said of her decision to become a first responder in her community.

The husband/wife team made their ultimate decision to become volunteer first responders in their community after Patrick Hubbard’s brother was killed in a car accident in 1981. He was trapped in the vehicle and emergency response crews had to be called in from Wilmington to cut him out.

Recognizing the need for more first responders in the Fayetteville community, Patrick Hubbard wanted to help.

“He wanted to help, and he actually joined the Fayetteville Fire Department first,” Patty said of her husband’s decision to become a first responder. “Later, I joined to become an EMT.”

In joining the Fayetteville Fire/EMS Department, Patty Hubbard carries on what has become a family tradition.

Her grandfather, Clifford Crone, was a police officer. She also had two uncles who served on the fire/EMS department and one uncle who served as chief.

The Fayetteville Fire/EMS Department went from a completely volunteer department to a part-time paid department with volunteers still serving. Over four decades with Fayetteville Fire/EMS, Patty Hubbard has served under at least seven different chiefs – Bill Young, Rick Carson, Timmy Crone, Terry Walters, Eric Wolfer, Kyle Singleton, and Mark Rosselot. Carson has served as chief twice during Patty Hubbard’s time with the department, and Rosselot is the current Fayetteville Fire/EMS chief.

When Patrick and Patty Hubbard started in the early 1980s, all who served on the department were volunteers.

“Pay was not an option. Everybody did it volunteer because they wanted to. We didn’t do it for the money, because there wasn’t any,” she said.

Making thousands of emergency runs together over the years, it would be an arduous task to tally up just how many lives they have saved.

Patty Hubbard will always remember the time when a man she saved from an accidental drug overdose returned to say “thanks.”

“I’ve been thanked once or twice before, but that’s the only time I’ve had someone who overdosed say to me, ‘Thank you for saving my life.’”

Patty Hubbard will also always remember the four times she delivered babies.

“That’s a great feeling, when you’re able to bring life into this world,” she said.

There are also a great deal of troubling memories from emergency calls she’s responded to over the years, and it’s those that involved hurt or injured children that are the most difficult to deal with.

“They stand out in my mind,” she said. “Those are the worst for me.”

Helping to keep Patty Hubbard at it for so many years are the positive outcomes, when you are able to save a life or successfully treat someone during a medical emergency.

“People have asked, ‘How can you do this?’ If there was death everyday, I couldn’t do it. If I had to do it everyday, face people dying, I don’t know that I could do it. But it’s not everyday,” she said. “When you do have someone dying, then you comfort the family and give them support.”

As you can see, a paramedic’s job can include much more than providing medical treatment, as they oftentimes provide comfort and support for family members of the victims. It could be the simple act of holding the hand of a wife whose longtime husband recently passed away, or it could be providing a bit of counseling for those grieving the loss of a loved one.

“They just want to know you’re there to help and that you care,” said Patty Hubbard.

In addition to their jobs as first responders, Patrick Hubbard worked at Keebler for 38 years while Patty Hubbard worked at the Arbors at Milford nursing home facility as a clerk and also worked for East Ambulance for 13 years.

She’s worked for private EMS services over the years as a first responder, but since her start as a first responder she has always served with the Fayetteville Fire/EMS in her community. Born and raised in Fayetteville, it’s a community she cares deeply about.

The Fayetteville Fire/EMS Department has come a long way since Patrick and Patty Hubbard’s start as first responders in the early 1980s thanks to the strong, ongoing support of the Fayetteville community.

“Our community is wonderful. They are very supportive,” said Patty Hubbard. “They have never failed one of our levies and they have always been here to help.”

It’s a community that celebrates its first responders with the annual Fayetteville Fireman’s Day Festival.

“We had a small three-bay building,” Patty Hubbard described the fire/EMS building when she started.

Now with a new facility that houses multiple trucks, Fayetteville Fire/EMS has grown by leaps and bounds over the years.

Although health issues limit what Patty Hubbard is able to do as a paramedic today, she enjoys sharing her education and experience with younger first responders. But she also said she learns a great deal from the young first responders, and enjoys working with cadets and new members of the department and watching them advance in their careers.

“I’ve watched some come on as cadets who are now medics,” said Patty Hubbard. “I like to think I can teach them something, but they teach me too. I can learn from them…I’m old school.”

Patrick Hubbard, once captain of the department, has also experienced some health issues, but still serves as an honorary member of the Fayetteville Fire/EMS Department.

Advancements in technology have led to significant changes for first responders over the years.

“You can do so much more today than we used to do,” she said.

She mentioned the LUCAS chest compression system to perform CPR.

Taking time out of a busy schedule to volunteer your help to others is a selfless act, and with the education and training it takes to become a volunteer first responder you certainly have to be passionate about helping others in their times of need.

“Some people say it’s a ‘thankless job,’ but I think you get ‘thanks’ everyday when you are able to help someone,” said Patty Hubbard. “And get them to a hospital to get treated, or treat them yourself…it’s a great feeling.”

One trait necessary to become a successful first responder is the desire to help others, to assist those experiencing what may be the most difficult times of their life.

“I think you have to be passionate about it, you have to want to do it,” Patty Hubbard said of what it takes to be a successful first responder. “It takes a person who really has the desire to try and make a difference.”