Emergency Services Teamwork Celebrated at Franklin Department of Motor Vehicles Office

By Stephen Smoot

Customers of the West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles last Wednesday may have been shocked to see two Franklin Volunteer Fire Department engines, a West Virginia State Police cruiser, and county emergency management vehicles assembled there.

Unlike a day not too long ago, all came to celebrate a life that had been saved rather than putting all of their efforts toward saving one.

Mike Alt, chief of the Upper Tract Volunteer Fire Department, said, “It’s been a long couple of weeks for Jeff here.”

Jeff Apicella, who works at the DMV office, experienced a near tragedy. On Oct. 26, as Tina Eye, president of the Pendleton County Emergency Rescue Squad described, “Pendleton County 911 dispatched PCER to a local business for a male patient having a possible heart attack.”

During the ceremony, his wife, Linda, expressed that I truly believe as the Bible says in James 1:17 “that every perfect present comes from above.” The amount of hands that came together to save her husband’s life was certainly one of those blessed presents.

Quickly after the initial call, it was upgraded to cardiac arrest and Franklin Volunteer Fire Department joined. Co-workers made the call, then immediately gave him CPR. They were joined by Darren Taylor, director of South Branch Day Report, who happened to be in his Franklin office.

As they kept Apicella alive with CPR, West Virginia State Trooper Kevin Raymond, who happened to be close by, came with an automated external defibrillator. Alt had pointed out that DMV offices used to have them available for emergencies until a commissioner decided they were too much of a liability issue.

Trooper Raymond, then Franklin fire crews, applied the defibrillator three times and revived Apicella. He was then flown to the hospital at the University of Virginia where he was stabilized and returned to work 10 days later.

Alt tried to gather all 19 of those who had a hand in saving Apicella’s life, not only to show appreciation, but also to give a visual indication of the teamwork sometimes necessary to create a good outcome in critical situations.

Apicella said, “I had no idea that I had this condition. To be honest, I remember nothing. From the bottom of my heart, I thank everyone who was involved.”

His wife shared that “New York is where most of our family is, but we love it here. You guys have good people . . . you all have big hearts.”

Each individual who took part received a certificate. These included Raymond, West Virginia State Police, Samantha Evans, Amanda Rexrode and Katelyn Keckly, all DMV employees, Amy Shreve and Evers Turner, both 911 dispatchers, Bob Grimm, PCER paramedic, Cheyenne Fleisher, Doug Rupe, Ruby Crown, Dave Ellis and Kim Hulmes, all PCER EMTs, Pat Frank and Eddie Caplinger, both FVFD and PCER EMTs, Brian DiFalco, Terry Hedrick, Cory Thomas and Austin Whetzel, all of FVFD, and Taylor, South Branch Day Report.