TOP PHOTO: (Left to right) LFD Chief Jimmy Pack, LFD Firefighter Michael Walker, LFD Firefighter Jeff Fugate, Mayor Phillip Farmer, LFD Firefighter Eric Matthias, LFD Lieutenant Brad Young and LFD Assistant Fire Chief Eddie Hatmaker.

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – It did not look good for 60-something Ben Braden. He was laying in his front yard pulseless and not breathing. However, the series of events that soon followed on that Sunday morning last September are much of why he is alive today.

Thirty-six year medical veteran Jeff Bond, EMT-paramedic, said in a letter to city officials that when he arrived in the ambulance that morning on Nevada Avenue, he immediately saw four La Follette Firefighters working feverishly on Braden. Braden had been weed eating his yard when he had a sudden cardiac episode, and the four man crew of Jeff Fugate, Eric Matthias, Michael Walker and Brad Young were working to diagnose and treat Braden.

Almost seven months later, Ben Braden holds the weed eater he dropped when he hit the ground in about this same spot of his front yard where a determined neighbor and four LFD Firefighters saved his life.

The first responders used CPR, two cardiac shocks, an IV, intubation airway control and a respiratory drive, according to Bond. “As I stepped out of my unit, the patient had regained heartbeat, blood pressure and a respiratory drive. Experience has taught me that survival rate decreases 10 percent with every minute that ticks by after sudden cardiac arrest,” said Bond.

Bond said a neighbor, who was there first to administer CPR, and the firemen saved this man’s life. It was Bond who suggested that these men should be publicly recognized for this life saving event.

The firefighters were honored by Mayor Phillip Farmer in a Monday morning ceremony at city hall.

“It’s just what we’re trained to do,” said Michael Walker. Walker was the highest ranking medical officer on the shift that day. It was the “C” Shift that responded, which is not Walker’s usual shift. He was filling in that morning on what was the first call of the day.
Walker and Lieutenant Brad Young (right) were first on the scene. “It was a team effort,” said Young.
“He (Braden) was laying in the yard, and we went into what we’re trained to do,” said Firefighter Jeff Fugate.
Eric Matthias, a 2021 Campbell High graduate and Eagle Scout, had only been on the job a few weeks when he went on his first CPR call for the LFD. “I just followed the direction of Lt. Young and Advanced EMT Walker,” said Matthias.

Even though Braden’s fast paced life is a little slower these days, he’s still mowing and weed eating thanks to a little help from his wife Connie, and he’s still alive thanks to a neighbor and four LFD Firefighters. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 05/17/2022-6AM)

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