Joshua Spain was frightened after collapsing at work.
“I just felt terrified because I didn’t know what was going on,” said Spain.
His coworkers called 911 and he says a Richmond Ambulance Authority (RAA) crew was there in less than six minutes. After being treated and transported by paramedic Julie Anderson and EMT Steven Arnold to the emergency room, Joshua wanted to reach out to RAA to personally thank them for their response to his call. After calling our headquarters he asked where the station was located that Julie and Steven worked out of assuming RAA operated like many other Fire and EMS agencies. He assumed our crews sat in stations waiting for a call, and then got dressed and packed up the ambulance once a call came in. It was then that he learned about RAA’s unique model that allows us to respond to calls quickly and efficiently.
Our ambulances are posted on street corners throughout the city. The posted positions are based on historical data and ambulances are sent to where we believe calls are most likely to come from during different times of the day. When a call comes in our crews are already in our ambulances ready to respond to a call.
“Started to think how smart that was, and that’s got to be one of the main reasons why the City of Richmond is so quick,” said Spain.
Joshua set up a time to come to RAA headquarters and brought his mother and son to meet Julie and Steven. He also brought them lunch as a thank you. Joshua says it was great to have his family meet the crew that helped him during his emergency. Joshua’s son was treated to a tour of the ambulance and got to ask our staff questions about what they do.
It was a great day and Julie and Steven say it was so nice to see Joshua doing better and that it was a pleasure meeting his family.
