Lifesaving Moment for AARC Member

February 13, 2014

Trevor Ballif, BS, RRT-NPS, was on his way to work at McGuire Veteran’s Hospital in Richmond, VA, on Monday night when a horrific accident took place right in front of him. What happened next would make any RT proud.

When we talked to Ballif this morning, he told us the experience has been surreal. “I am just so happy to have been there. I am usually on the other end at the hospital, wishing someone had been at the scene to administer CPR.”

He’s heard a little more about the young man he saved as well. “I spoke to the boy’s dad last night,” says Ballif. “He is a college student in Richmond.” The boy’s father gave him permission to say that his son’s head and spinal cord are fine, and he is now off the ventilator but still unaware of what happened.

Ballif was glad to hear he was doing so well, but noted that he still has a lot of serious ortho issues ahead of him. Both the dad and family are anxious to meet him so they can thank him in person, and they’re planning a get together sometime next week.

Trevor Ballif never expected to be in a position to save a life outside of the hospital, and he really didn’t expect—or even want—all the attention it’s gotten him. But sharing the experience with his fellow RTs at the VA hospital and Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, where he also works PRN, has been a blessing. “My colleagues have been so supportive and are happy RTs are getting some good attention,” he says.

They’re also the ones who truly understand what it was really like out there in the middle of the street. “My fellow RTs were able to understand how I felt ‘out of sorts’ without medical supplies,” he says. “It reminds us how fragile life is, and how blessed we are.”