Paula Golblish didn’t have an EpiPen on her when she had an unexpected encounter with a wasp in Marshall late last month, but Dustin Demuth did.
Demuth, a Lyon County Sheriff’s Deputy, was not only Johnny on the Spot on Aug. 28, but because of his forward thinking, he was able to save the day. And on Tuesday, Demuth was honored for his quick thinking.
Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen, who honored Demuth at Tuesday’s Lyon County Board of Commissioners meeting for his action to save a life, noted that the Sheriff’s Office about a year ago entered into a partnership with the Tracy Ambulance that opened the door for a deputy to operate as an EMT while on duty. Typically, staff is only trained up to the First Responder level, Wallen said.
“Deputy Demuth came to me and asked since he’s already an EMT, already works for Tracy Ambulance, if we could do something that would allow him to be equipped with EMT-level equipment in his car.”
Demuth has been operating as an EMT for about a year, Wallen said. It came in very handy last month when Goblish was stung by a wasp at her home and suffered an allergic reaction.
Demuth arrived on scene in about five minutes, administered the epinephrine, and provided care until the ambulance arrived about 16 minutes later.
“It was a little over 20 minutes from the time of the call to an actual ambulance with paramedic-level staff arrived on scene,” Wallen said. “The paramedics there informed me that had Dustin not been there with the EpiPen, she might not have fared as well as she did. It was pretty bad and could’ve gotten much worse, if not fatal.”
Demuth said the incident verified the importance of the partnership between the two entities.
“I would’ve never carried that if we didn’t have that (partnership); I did what I was trained to do,” Demuth said, “but that partnership made that possible.”
Demuth, who has been an officer and EMT for about 10 years, said to no one’s fault, rural healthcare is facing a crisis, as EMS personnel do what they do on a parttime basis.
“Especially in smaller towns, people have jobs outside of the town that they serve,” he said. “I just felt that this is a way to be able to kind of bridge that gap a little bit.”
