American Medical Response Provides Family with Special Gift on Christmas

First responders from American Medical Response’s (AMR) Redlands Division were honored to give 7-year-old Lea Barrow the gift of time with her family on Christmas Day. Lea has a rare medical condition that requires her to reside at Children’s Sub-Acute medical facility at Community Hospital of San Bernardino, where she receives round-the-clock care. As part of their Home for the Holiday’s program and in partnership with Children’s Sub-Acute, AMR provided Lea round-trip transportation with a critical care transport respiratory therapy unit.

“When we arrived at Lea’s home, we were greeted warmly by her father and siblings, who were very excited to see her,” shared Ramon Paez, AMR respiratory therapist. “Lea was so happy to see her family. She was laughing and smiling and loved being picked up. The visit was very joyous for me, to see Lea play with her brothers and sister without any worry.”

AMR’s Home for the Holiday’s program provides courtesy transportation with medical supervision to patients like Lea, gifting them time to spend with family and friends during the holidays. To safely transport Lea on Christmas Day, AMR’s critical care team included respiratory therapist Ramon Paez, EMT Jacob Miller and EMT Eddie Perez. The team coordinated to come in on their day off to take Lea home to spend the holiday with her family.

The family spent the day laughing, playing and spending time outside in the sun. After a few hours, it was time for Lea to make the return trip to Children’s Sub-Acute, with hugs and kisses from her family and the memory of a Christmas spent at home together. It was an honor and a joy for the team from AMR to work with Children’s Sub-Acute to make this special day happen for Lea.