Evansville man meets first responders who worked together to save his life

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - An Evansville man got the chance to meet the first responders who saved his life in January.

Craig Paul went into cardiac arrest while working at Berry Global on January 18. Through the quick actions of his fellow co-workers, Evansville Fire Department’s first responders, and the responding EMT’s, Paul is alive.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been able to see anybody that we’ve been able to bring back and shake his hand," said Evansville Firefighter Ben Davis.

Wednesday, those responsible for saving Paul were honored with “Lifesaver Awards," but, according to Luke Hurley, an Evansville paramedic, the true reward is getting to see and speak with Paul.

“It’s nice to be recognized for something like this because you actually get to meet the person you saved. A lot of times we don’t get to meet them," said Hurley.

Paul said he doesn’t remember much of what happened the day emergency personnel rushed him to Deaconess Hospital.

“I was showing a buddy, someone I was training, how to do a certain thing up high," said Paul. "We came down the stairs, and right after that, I just kind of blacked out and fell into a shelving unit and hit the ground. I woke up x amount of time later staring at an ambulance operator, an AMR guy.”

Hurley says that with three different units doing their best to keep Paul alive, the call could have been difficult. But thanks to good communication and teamwork, everything was handled by the books.

“We did what we had to do and we weren’t there for very long until we got his pulse back," said Hurley. "And by the time we were heading to the hospital he was awake and talking to us. Asking us questions.”

Paul said that he had “no words” to describe how grateful he is to everyone involved.

“There had to be 45-50 people here and all of them had a hand in saving my life and that’s incredible," said Paul.

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