Richard Schomp (left) and Leslie McAllister present Josh Hoover with the Sunstar Care Plus Award

Josh Hoover’s supervisor shift on February 18 started like many other days. That morning, he began preparing to monitor the Sunstar Paramedics crews on duty and to assist on the scene of emergencies. Then Sunstar Paramedics received a call about a child in cardiac arrest, and his day became much more hectic.

Hoover wanted to be able to offer support to family and Sunstar team if the child did not survive and he followed the crew to the scene. Soon after arrival, he needed to use his experience in pediatric critical care to make life-saving decisions for the child.

The child’s airway was not secured so Hoover intubated the child, which helps the child breathe by placing a tube into the windpipe through the mouth. Equipment typically can hold the tube in place, but the child’s small size wouldn’t allow it. Hoover instead held the tube in place with steady hands as the child was transported to the hospital.

Upon arrival at the hospital, Hoover recommended a using a Doppler, which is a type of amplifying stethoscope that’s particularly useful when finding a pulse on children. The hospital was able to stabilize the child and Hoover arranged for a specialized transport using an isolette from Sunstar’s critical care team to safely transport this small patient to a pediatric hospital so the child to continue to receive care. Hoover even made sure the original stretcher was returned to the right Sunstar ambulance before its next call.

While a pediatric cardiac arrest would have made for a hectic day, Hoover then responded with crews to two separate structure fires, a rare occurrence for emergency personnel. He responded to the first fire in Largo to monitor vital signs of fire fighters so they could continue working on the scene. The second fire in Redington Beach was larger and required response from multiple fire departments. Hoover and others from the Sunstar team monitored the vital signs for more than 50 fire fighters, which is key for fire rescue crews to remain safe on the scene. He also helped coordinated where to send patients from the large fire to avoid potentially over-crowding local hospitals.

Hoover is awarded the February Sunstar Care Plus Award, an internal award, to honor his work ethic and efficiency in managing this hectic shift to provide quality care to everyone involved. Award winners are nominated by their co-workers and selected by Sunstar’s employee engagement and retention committee.