Carpentersville fire department given Flight for Life award

Flight for Life of McHenry recognized the Carpentersville fire department for its actions in responding to a call last May involving a state police officer that veteran emergency service workers described as an "absolutely phenomenal" effort.

The department received the 2009 Flight for Life Scene Call of the Year Award, which honors the outstanding contribution to patient care by emergency medical services professionals throughout southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The award was developed in 1994 and each base - McHenry, Waukesha/Milwaukee and Fond du Lac, Wis. - recognizes a full-time and combination department each year.

"This solidifies or supports the level of service our men and women provide, not only to the residents, but also to those visiting our town," Carpentersville Fire Chief John Schuldt said. "I am proud to be the fire chief in a community with the high level of dedication and professionalism that our men and women show."

Carpentersville emergency crews responded to a call of a person shot in a Kane County field, about 300 yards from the intersection of Boyer and Randall roads near the Algonquin border. A first-year state trooper apparently had shot himself.

The Flight for Life helicopter was summoned to the scene but the trooper had no pulse before the crew arrived, said Tammy Chatman, the Flight for Life public information officer.

"This call was a very difficult call for everyone; it was traumatic," Chatman said. "But those officers did everything they could to give the patient a chance at survival. In the end, all they could offer the family was the chance to say goodbye. That is immensely important."

The Flight for Life crew accompanied the patient by ambulance to Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin, where he showed signs of a pulse, Chatman said. The trooper was then airlifted to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he later died.

The Carpentersville fire department was assisted by the Illinois State Police, Kane County Sheriff's Office, Carpentersville Police, the Lake in the Hills-Algonquin Fire Protection District and Algonquin Police.

"Without those agencies, the call wouldn't have gone the way it did," Schuldt said. "The outcome was not successful, but we gave the family the opportunity to be with the patient for closure."