FAIRBANKS — Sometime between calling an ambulance for chest pain and being airlifted to Anchorage for heart surgery, Nenana Fire Chief Joe Forness found the time to help take a car crash victim to the hospital.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that Forness called 911 on Nov. 22 because he was experiencing chest pain, but about 10 minutes into the ambulance ride to Fairbanks, Forness said his symptoms disappeared.
Around the same time, the ambulance passed a car wreck with a victim in need of immediate attention.
So Forness did what he’s done since 1990.
He jumped off the gurney, ripped some electrodes off his chest and helped.
The Nenana crew got the victim to the hospital — where Forness then had a heart attack.
He was airlifted to Anchorage, underwent quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery and is recovering at home.
